Arm Chair Debrief II

Welcome to Iraq

The buildup to the invasion of Iraq was intense, The Gulf War had been a media triumph in 1991, and was about to be put to shame. Armed with new technology, the common citizen was going to have the opportunity to go to Iraq from home, prepare a fine meal and drift away with the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division, or the Marine Corps’ 3/1, or whatever unit was crossing uncharted territory that night. I had the added experience of having a father who was preparing to deploy to Iraq as an embedded reporter. So I would sit, sit in front of the television for hours, between homework assignments, lost in thought and CNN or Fox News, NBC, I was addicted, shooting the news junk through teenage eyeballs. I wondered what it meant? The U.S. invasion of Iraq commenced on March 20, 2003. This initial phase, thought to be the only phase, would be the conventional battle between the Iraqi Army and coalition forces. Many other phases would follow and the country would shape shift almost annually bringing with it new threats, alliances, and anticipations.
Crossing the line of departure with the coalition troops into Iraq on 20, March 2003 was a former NFL professional football player turned Army Ranger whose story I had been following since 2002 named Pat Tillman. NBC reporter David Bloom who would tragically die of natural causes with the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division, Jerry Vang, a soldier also attached to the Army’s 3rd ID, a friend of mine and brother to the guitarist in my High School punk rock band, who would succumb to paralysis after a car accident while home on leave from the invasion, and soon my father. I drove with Mike Vang, Jerry’s brother and only other occupant in the car at the time of the accident, up the coast past Santa Barbra to drop my Dad off at the ancient Camp Roberts, and wonder my Senior year, if I would ever see him again.
March 2003, was a slow month for me. I recall at one point exclaiming in awe at the reportedly first televised firefight while on the phone with my girlfriend. Much like 1991 the coalition forces rolled through Iraq and decimated the Iraqi Army. One of my favorite sights was the genius Marine who draped the American flag over the face of the Saddam statue; I’m a sucker for bad PR. Next, the first “uh-oh” alarm went off in my head when I was watching U.S. troops set up Camp in Saddam’s lavish palaces. Looting broke out in the streets and it was apparent to the average viewer that Iraq was slipping into some sort of chaos.
A key to the next turn of events had to do with law. I believe that if the military had policed the streets of Iraq and quelled the civilian thievery and chaos that will always result during a lack of law, that the U.S. might have been able to secure a more favorable view among the people of Iraq. I also believe that as in the case of most of our wars, we failed to understand the culture of the people whose country we were “liberating”. My father returned on the day I graduated High School, armed with Iraqi bayonet’s and stories of a far away war. I thought we would find Saddam soon, institute a quick turnover to a favorable regime and that would be that. Eight weeks after I graduated High School I left for Marine Corps Boot Camp. I thought for sure that the war was over, that I had missed it. Through most of the remainder of 2003 U.S. forces remained confused and alert as the war began its next phase. The Insurgency…