“We were safe because we were in Ramadi”

Michael Totten’s second report from the former Islamist stronghold of Ramadi is out. The sentence that sums up the whole report best, I think, is this:

Bumps in the road are now officially seen as more hazardous than insurgents and terrorists in Ramadi

And for those who are saying that the surge is not making any progress with the hearts and minds of the Iraqis, there’s this.

The Iraqis of Anbar Province turned against Al Qaeda and sided with the Americans in large part because Al Qaeda proved to be far more vicious than advertised. But it’s also because sustained contact with the American military – even in an explosively violent combat zone –convinced these Iraqis that Americans are very different people from what they had been led to believe. They finally figured out that the Americans truly want to help and are not there to oppress them or steal from them. And the Americans slowly learned how Iraqi culture works and how to blend in rather than barge in.

“We hand out care packages from the U.S. to Iraqis now that the area has been cleared of terrorists,” one Marine told me. “When we tell them that some of these packages aren’t from the military or the government, that they were donated by average American citizens in places like Kansas, people choke up and sometimes even cry. They just can’t comprehend it. It is so different from the lies they were told about us and how we’re supposed to be evil.”

The literacy class for women and girls may have been cancelled, but the local would-be students wanted me to take pictures of them at their desks. So the classroom was opened and they sat in their seats for staged photos. We had no language in common. It was just obvious, from their beckoning hand gestures, what they wanted me to do. They seemed to be proud that they were learning to read, and that women and girls were allowed to be schooled again now that Al Qaeda is gone.

Ramadi, and the rest of Anbar Provice, is far from a settled and secure place. The Islamists of al-Qaeda owned it once and they sure as heck want it back. It’s a big blot on their record to have lost Ramadi. the longer that blot stands, the weaker and more laughable they become in the eyes of the Iraqi people. They need to take back Ramadi so they can score yet another public relations coup with our Congressional Democrats and the American Media.

But our soldiers are there waiting. And this time, they have an awful lot of friends standing right next to them ready to help.

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Category: Fighting the Islamists