BAGHDAD (AP) – Wajih Hameed is an Iraqi general with an attitude.
His swagger sometimes grates on American officers. But Maj. Gen. Jeffery Hammond sees it as a hopeful sign the Iraqi army – generals and soldiers alike – has reached a new level of self-confidence, pointing the way toward truly independent Iraqi forces and, eventually, an exit for U.S. combat troops.
The flip side is that the Americans feel their control slipping away. This feeds a worry that Iraqi security forces either will set themselves up for a catastrophic failure or might even decide – at some point when the Americans largely have departed – that the country would be better off under military rule.
For now, the new assertiveness by generals such as Hameed, who commands all Iraqi soldiers in the western part of the capital, is welcomed.
“They have a self-confidence now that they didn’t have when (I) first arrived” last fall, Hammond, the top commander of U.S. forces in Baghdad, said in an interview. The Iraqi army, he said, was largely limited as recently as last winter to manning checkpoints and “they were struggling with that.”
Full Story Here:
Newfound Iraqi confidence pleases, worries US
OK, I guess I am missing something here. I thought the whole point was, after several mission re-definitions, in an attempt to keep the Bush administration looking modestly PC, I thought the whole thing was about Iraqi Freedom?
With freedom comes strength, with strength comes confidence, from confidence and strength come leadership. We can advise the Iraqis, we can suggest, but unless we plan on annexing Iraq, and making them the newest U.S. territory, once the Iraqis are capable of standing on their own, or think that they are, isn’t our job pretty much done?
It’s a lot like being a parent, when the kids are small you can tell them, “Because I said so, that’s why!”, but as the kids grow into adults all you can do is hope and pray that the life lessons you taught them have actually done some good.
After a while you have to *let go*, you can’t live their lives for them, and if they make good decisions, then you know you did a good job, if they make bad decisions, well, you still know you gave it your best, but the free will of a nation is NOT something that we, the USA, has any right to manipulate.
We are rapidly approaching a time when the Iraqis will say, “Thank you for the billions of dollars, thank you for your human sacrifice and effort but now it’s time for you to leave us alone and let US run OUR nation…”
That my friends, is the way it happens. And once it does, I feel it is our duty to let them *sink or swim*, and if it all falls the wrong way and we have to go back at some point in time and re-take Iraq, or blow it away, whatever the case may be, we can at least know that we tried to do our best for the Iraqi people.
I personally don’t give a damn about Iraq, or ANY of it’s people, I have made that clear from the very start of this mission to Iraq. There is only one thing I care about at this time, and that is the safety of our military personnel and their getting out of Iraq alive and well.
Maybe Iraqi confidence, whether real or imagined, will be their ticket home.
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This has all been a waste of troops and money. Our soldiers did their jobs and did them well. As soon as the Last American leaves Iraq will cozy up to its neighbors, they’ve already said American can’t use their country to attack Iran. You would think they would let us do whatever we wanted to do after what we did for them, but no, once a Muslim always a Muslim and Islam comes first.
Sink or Swim? They won’t Sink they’ll swim with their kind and love every moment of it.
They’re Muslims and Muslims are the Shit of the Earth, plain and simple.
Hey Fred,
Enjoy your posts. Although I disagree with our ‘purpose’ there I agree with you that the time to leave is approaching. I’m afraid that the U.S. govt is looking to insure that Iraqi govt. hosts a political platform that is favorable to the U.S. from a corporate perspective. In other words – we don’t want any country to cause a problem with the global economy -that insures the dollars keep flowing around the world in a manner that benefits to richest around the world while basically enslaving the world to a system of laws which in turn protects or corporate global agenda…
bb
When the last US trooper leaves Iraq it will be back to business as usual in the ‘big cat box’. Outside of getting rid of Saddam and his retarded son’s its all been a waste of time.
Basti, FULLY agreed…
It is nice to hear that the Iraqi military is finally stepping up, showing confidence and becoming worth a damn.
I’m looking forward to our troops coming home.
Iraq will HAVE to sink or swim. However, the nature of Islam is that it runs BEST with a Dictator. Hey, it’s what they’re used to. Why can’t WE fill that bill? Hello? Oil for America?? Anyone listening??
BZ
Bloviating Zeppelin, sadly, no, they’re NOT listening…
I opened the door, annexation, then we take the oil and tax em too, we’ll have those BILLIONS made back in no time at all…
If you’re going to go to war, and if you win, I am of the opinion that to the victor go the spoils, Iraq is no more ready to govern themselves than a 5 year old is…
We don’t need to stay there forever, just long enough to take ALL the oil WE need and for as long as it takes to get U.S. production going to the point where the goddamned Saudis are BEGGING the world to buy their oil…
And we DO have the resources to make it happen, all we have to do it light up Congress and start chaining tree huggers to the trees, just before we set the damned thing on fire…
The moment the Iraqi government asks/tells us to leave, we will know if Iraq is a sovereign nation.
BobF, yep, that’s true, but I have to wonder, how long will they remain a sovereign nation?
I’m very confused. Since the whole idea was to ‘liberate’ Iraq from a raving egotistical dictator and his spawn, isn’t the control suppose to be turned over? If they are confident enough to deal with the bad guys, then by all means….let ‘em! I would think is good news.
Kate, most people would think it good news, except those that KNOW these bastards will fold like a cheap suit the 1st time some Islamic moonbat strongman waves his beard at em…
I don’t give a DAMN what people like Amy Proctor and company have to say, Iraq will NEVER, I repeat, NEVER be capable of standing on it’s own as ANY kind of democracy, and anyone that believes otherwise is a fool…
So, we might as well stay, tell the Iraqis to f*ck off, we’re taking over, then TAKE the damned oil we need…
Iraq won’t mind, in fact, they’d be a lot happier if it was that way, it’s what they’re used to, dictatorship…
As soon as WE leave, Iraq goes back into the hands of some maniacal dictator, it’s that simple…
Islam and democracy don’t mix, so I don’t understand why the powers that be seem to think it’s gonna happen.
Your opinion please…
If we ever get out of there, and things fall apart, would it be wise to go back in?
I’m thinking of a large glass field, but then, I’m a racist warmonger, so….
Kate: We need to TAKE all the oil we NEED 1st, then blow the damned place to hell and back…
And I have been called all kinds of names for saying what you just did, but Islam and Democracy will NOT mix, never have, never will…
George Bush is a goddamned moron, Iraq was ALL HIS, and til I die I will believe, yellow cake and all, that we went to Iraq because Bush was pissed at Saddam…
The yellow cake that a few Bush Bot morons are touting as the supposed WMDs aren’t aware that it wasn’t even a known commodity, not public knowledge, until fairly recent times, and damn sure not before we went to Iraq, not as any kind of WMD…
It was known that Saddam had it, back in ’91, and Saddam was allowed to have it because the goddamned Iraqis were too damned stupid to actually do anything with it, they were good with poison gas, but thermo-nukes were WAY out of their league…
A *dirty bomb* was about all they could muster, and more people would be killed by the blast than the radiological material…
The whole thing has been a farce and we have been the victims, our wallets and our economy…
Well yeah…. suck ALL the fields dry, THEN….
And I’m getting used to being called names. Actually, I think it’s kind of amusing at times.
As for the yellow cake, wasn’t that what the big tado with Wilson was all about? First he said, it was, then he said it wasn’t? Then he got a hair up his butt?
That was the whole thing behind Wilson/Plame…
Plame wasn’t a clandestine agent, if she was, she had the worst cover ever, she may have been some kind of operative, a *source* if you will, but she wasn’t Jane Bond…
Wilson, in his position, likely knew a hell of a lot more than some folks wanted him to know, it’s ALL politics anyway, and WE get to pay for it…
I don’t know who was right and wrong on this one, all I know is that fingers were pointed and that prior to the Kuwait thing back in ’90 and our involvement in ’91, Saddam was the best damned chess piece we had in the region, and that region of the world was the only thing threatened BY Saddam…
Here’s a piece from 4 years ago…
The Wilson-Plame “scandal” was political pulp fiction.
I don’t know who knew what and when they knew it but yellow cake wasn’t the reason we went to Iraq, regardless of what ANY of the Bush’s Ass Tastes Good crowd has to say…
Oh dayum Fred! That’s a mental image I could have done without!
Well… I was gonna say something a lot worse but self restraint kicked in…
I’m grateful for your restraint….I truly am! LOL
Kate, your right that Islam and Democracy don’t mix and it never will. For some reason our political leaders and many people in this country believe that everyone in the world wants to live under Democracy. It’s hard for us to fathom that their are people who actually enjoy living under dictators, kings, religious leaders, and other types of rulers and under Islam.
I believe our form of government, as it was originally formed under the Constitution, is the best in the world but I don’t advocate forcing other nations to our ways.