A MEMORIAL DAY EMAIL FROM MICHAEL YON, with photos:
Iraqi Policeman at a meeting today
Glenn,
Another day has passed without my having seen a shred of combat. The area around the city of Hit, in Anbar Province, has mostly fallen silent. A dust storm swept in late yesterday, and as normal, the enemy used the storm for cover to seed a few small IEDs on roads. The bombs were small and were discovered without incident.
I am becoming very interested by the city of Hit and surrounds; the fighting turned-off abruptly in February after Task Force 2-7 Infantry arrived. Why did the fighting end so suddenly?
The commander of Task Force 2-7 Infantry, LTC Doug Crissman, circulates the towns in his area each day. Today, we spent about twelve hours driving to or conducting various meetings. The most interesting meeting revolved around tribal politics.
Meeting today in Anbar Province with Police and sheiks
Three of the five sheiks present
During this meeting, three Iraqi Police lieutenant colonels, and five tribal sheiks, talked for perhaps two hours with LTC Crissman about the shape of the emerging Iraqi Police in this area. The Iraqi Ministry of Interior allocated 576 slots for new police in this area of operations. LTC Crissman is trying to distribute slots reasonably equally among the tribes and towns, while each tribe makes a grab for as many slots as possible.
Tribal intrigue and politics surface as a dominant factor in Anbar Province.
The sheiks want more police openings, and since many “police†have been working without pay for more than two months, one sheik proposed an idea to cut the already-meager pay in half, so that twice more police can be hired. A stream of such proposals come at LTC Crissman during every meeting, and each time I ask myself, “How will the commander field this one?â€
Iraqi interpreter talking to the sheik.
I would like to write more candidly about what Crissman faces, but Internet is available in the towns here, and I wish to avoid unnecessarily affecting local politics during this sensitive time. I will say that over a period of more than two years, I’ve attended countless such meetings in Baghdad, Baqubah, Mosul and other Iraqi cities, but never have I seen an area where fighting ending so abruptly.
After the meeting: Kabobs, baked chicken and vegetables.
Iraqis have told me many times that the larger part of this war is not about religion. Fanatical groups such as al Qaeda surely have wreaked havoc, but a huge part of the war is about business, influence and resources. The American Commanding General, David Petraeus, has said repeatedly that money is ammunition in this war. The meetings I attend with local leaders around Iraq are never about religion. Religion is seldom if ever brought up. The meetings are about security, electricity, jobs, water projects. The meetings often are about influence, and politics fit for a novel.
Everything I see at these meetings indicates that those Coalition officers who say that money is ammunition in this war, are right. Al Qaeda is proving itself to the Iraqis to be bankrupt morally, and financially. There is a chance to fill the vacuum.