Marines "Going back into the brawl."

We are going back in to the brawl. We will be relieving the magnificent soldiers fighting under the 82nd Airborne Division, whose hard wonsuccesses in the Sunni Triangle have opened opportunities for us to exploit.

For the last year, the 82nd Airborne has been operating against the heart of the enemy's resistance. It's appropriate that we relieve them: When it's time to move a piano, Marines don't pick up the piano bench - we move the piano. So this is the right place for Marines in this fight, where we can carry on the legacy of Chesty Puller in the Banana Wars in the same sort of complex environment that he knew in his early years. Shoulder to shoulder with our comrades in the Army, Coalition Forces and maturing Iraqi Security Forces, we are going to destroy the enemy with precise firepower while diminishing the conditions that create diversarial relationships between us and the Iraqi people.

This is going to be hard, dangerous work. It is going to require patient, persistent presence. Using our individual initiative, courage, moral judgment and battle skills, we will build on the 82nd Airborne's victories. Our country is counting on us even as our enemies watch and calculate, hoping that America does not have warriors strong enough to withstand discomfort and danger. You, my fine young men, are going to prove the enemy wrong - dead wrong. You will demonstrate the same uncompromising spirit that has always caused the enemy to fear America's Marines.

The enemy will try to manipulate you into hating all Iraqis. Do not allow the enemy that victory. With strong discipline, solid faith, unwavering alertness, and undiminished chivalry to the innocent, we will carry out this mission. Remember, I have added, "First, do no harm" to our passwords of "No Better Friend, No Worse Enemy." Keep your honor clean as we gain information about the enemy from the Iraqi people. Then, armed with that information and working in conjunction with fledgling Iraqi Security Forces, we will move precisely against the enemy elements and crush them without harming the innocent.

This is our test-our Guadalcanal, our Chosin Reservoir, our Hue City. Fight with a happy heart and keep faith in your comrades and your unit. We must be under no illusions about the nature of the enemy and the dangers that lie ahead. Stay alert, take it all in stride, remain sturdy, and share your courage with each other and the world. You are going to write history, my fine young sailors and Marines, so write it well.

This is from an Army NCO in Iraq—I removed any possible identifiers for obvious reasons, but I can assure you that it is a genuine report from “The Front.” Quite a bit different from what the media are reporting.

"UID Naval Person/Friend"

Lots of good things are happening in Iraq. I spent some months of last year as an "Instructor" (spell that "Drill Sergeant") for the NEW Iraqi Army (NOT to be confused with the police). There were about 120 of us at Kir Kush (not to be confused with the Kurdish city of Kir Kuk ! in the north), colocated with Camp Caldwell, home of the 2/17 FA, 1/10 Cav ("Buffalo Soldiers") and two MP companies, who provided OUR security.

I met hundreds of new recruits from all over Iraq. When they arrived, the racism was quite evident. The Kurds, who are not ethnic Arabs and speak their own Kurdish language, hated the Arabs from the south. They viewed the Arabs as the "enablers" of Saddam's Army, who they had been fighting against, alongside American Special Forces, for years. The Kurds loved Americans, but hated their Arab countrymen to the south. The Shia's saw themselves as superior to everyone in Iraq and hated too. The Ba'athists, embittered by their loss of power, were especially angry. The Sunni's were different and had their own prejudices. The Yazitis, a strange religious sect, was also in the mix, offering a little more grist to the racist mill. There were fights, near-riots and lots of problems. But, over the months of training and common hardship, these groups all came together and became a team. It was a joy to watch. And it gave us all hope that what was happening in microcosm in the Army, just might happen in the country as a whole. (Oh, and don't be confused about the early desertions of the First Battalion... that was strictly a low-pay matter. It has been fixed now, by the way, and is no longer an issue.)

I also met hundreds of Iraqi workers at Kir Kush. The place was an abandoned, half-built post for the OLD Iraqi Army. When we arrived, the buildings were mere shells, with no windows, doors, power, plumbing or messing facilit! ies. Over the mon! ths, hundreds of workers were brought in and things got much better. (Say what you want about Halliburton, but when their KBR subsidiary served that first hot meal...WE LOVED 'EM!) The local Iraqi workers revelled in their new jobs, their freedom to travel and speak freely for a change and spoke proudly of their happiness at finally being able to provide for their families. A guy here was able to buy a family car... a guy there bought his family a TV... another started feeling good because he could pay back all the debt he had incurred. During the poverty years under Saddam, while Saddam built palaces for himself with alabaster halls, gold bathroom fixtures and teak walls, the people suffered horribly. Those days were finally over.

I gained special insight from my 24/7 "IT"... my personal "Interpreter-Translator". He was a highly motivated, intelligent and talented young man... a recent graduate from Baghdad University with a degree in English Literature... and a rare Catholic in Iraq. We spoke endlessly during long duty nights and lonely periods in the field. He told me how the Iraqi people were tremendously thankful to America for freeing them from Saddam. He told me of Uday and Qusay's thugs openly abducting coeds from Baghdad University in broad daylight, never to be seen again. (The resort "play" area they were brought to... the torture rooms, the rape rooms... is now the Headquarters of the Australian Coalition Forces.) I talked to ex-Iraqi Army soldiers who deserted when we invaded, unwilling to risk their lives for Saddam. I don't think I met a single Iraqi who had NOT lost a family m! ember to Saddam's murderers. They weren't even upset at America for civilians who were killed by American weapons, they blamed the whole affair on Saddam. Now, months later, I am inundated with requests from Iraqis who want to join the US military and are seeking assistance.

We were in an isolated area... it was about a four hour drive to the nearest large US base at Balad, referred to as "Anaconda". (Over the months, that four hours became two hours, as the doctrinally correct 30mph convoy speed turned into 70mph for common sense safety. We drove through Ba'aquba, a place you may have heard of in the news... a town hostile to Americans, along the way.) During our rare trips to Anaconda to get to a PX or have some amenities like a dip in the pool or eat some fresh lettuce or drink fresh milk, I watched the countryside change. The drive was like a trip through the south Bronx when I arrived. Saddam had kept the people in such poverty that the drive was strewn with mud huts, falling apart roads and hungry people everywhere. By the time I left, new cars, new gas stations, people in bright new clothes and small shops were popping up all along the drive.

Smiles replaced the old drawn, resigned looks we first met. To be sure, the desperate Ba'athists kept the drive less than safe... but their violence was desperation of the few... in no way indicative of 25 MILLION Iraqis making progress daily in their goals to have family, a home and a few nice things in their lives. (Most Iraqis were too preoccupied with providing dinner for their families to worry about political concerns. Worryin! g about politics! is the purview of people who can afford the time... like the old rich Ba'athists who had the money... kinda like Americans who take dinner for granted too...)

Things continue to get better today. I talk daily via the internet to my old roommate in Kir Kush. He recently came home on leave and spoke about how the electrical grid is coming back online throughout the country, how clean water is available more and more everyday and how even the telephone system is starting to work (when I was there, there was NO telehone service... only a rare satellite phone that cost $2/min... the satellite internet service at the post "internet cafe" was our only link to civilization.)

Just before I left, I was invited to a private party in the barracks with our "IT's". We had become close over the month! s and it was kind of an emotional scene. We sat and talked for hours. "Mohammed" produced a black market bottle of British Scotch; "Ahmed" had brought some sweet pastries from home. As we talked, I told them that I knew they were all risking their lives to support American efforts and their own freedom. I asked them, though, why the thugs in Ba'aquba were allowed to roam free. Why weren't they turned in? The answer came as they all stared at their feet. It dawned on me then, that they were afraid. One went so far as to tell me they were ashamed that Americans were willing to die for Iraqi freedom, but few of their own countrymen seemed willing to do so for their OWN freedom. Ayman, my IT, was a voracious reader and had been reading up on American history. He chimed in, "All our heroes are ancient. Our proud history is old. We have nothing like your Astronauts, Daniel Boone, George Washington or Lincoln to draw upon. George Bush and your soldiers are the only modern heroes we know." We hugged... if nothing else... Iraqi's are one huggin' bunch!

So... bottom line... things get better every day in Iraq. I brought home some NEW Iraqi Dinars. There is no doubt that Iraq is on the move to a positive future. My $200 worth of NEW Iraqi Dinars... just might pay for that home on the beach by the time I'm in the market for it.

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