One Marine’s View: Stay the Course, Help the Iraqi Army

 

BAGHDAD, July 5 — A lot of the line troops in Iraq have taken multiple casualties, and it’s wearing them down, getting them frustrated. Furthermore, given the negative things I’ve heard the past few weeks about the Iraqi police and the pervasive suspicions that a lot of people harbor about working with Iraqis in general, I’m almost afraid to ask how the Iraqi Army is doing—let alone our own.

But one group of Marines, hanging out today at the motor pool as their Humvee gets a fix, has a different perspective. The 2nd Battalion, 4th Brigade of the 1st Iraqi Army Division’s Military Transition Team has been working extensively with the Iraqi Army, and Capt. Mike Milburn (pictured above, second from left) reassures me: “They’ll be in good shape.”

Milburn's Marine unit has been here for 10 months, and on the streets just about every day, so “We have a pretty good feel for things,” he says. “This place isn’t a bed of roses, and there is still a lot of hard work left to get done. I think we all want to go home, but all of us also want to make this thing count.

“We’re haunted by the ghost of Vietnam,” he continues, “and I am afraid that kind of thinking could lead our nation into a disgraceful situation. We are well led, well trained—we have to finish this the right way. Time will tell, eh?” —Leslie Sabbagh

Photo by Leslie Sabbagh