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U.S. military helped, but it’s up to Iraqis now

Photos: On the ground in Iraq

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By Ismail Turay JR. Updated 11:58 PM Wednesday, September 1, 2010

As President Obama announced the end of combat operations in Iraq on Tuesday night, Aug. 31, I couldn’t help but reflect on the year I spent in the war-torn nation as a member of the Ohio Army National Guard in 2004.

My unit, the Columbus-based 196th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment, was attached to the 1st Infantry Division. We were based in the city of Tikrit, hometown of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and where he was captured by American forces before being executed in 2006.

In the seven years since the conflicts started, America has lost more than 4,400 service members and spent billions of dollars on the war. As Obama brings the troops home (some 50,000 will remain), many Americans are asking if the war was worth the cost.

I don’t know the answer to the question; history will ultimately make that determination. But I am comfortable saying that the Iraqi people are the real winners because the infrastructure work the Americans completed — reportedly costing taxpayers $53 billion — will remain long after the signs of war have gone away.

My unit arrived in Tikrit in February 2004, about two months after Hussein was captured. Our base, Forward Operating Base Danger, was attacked multiple times a day as insurgents fired mortar rounds into the compound. Iraqis who sympathized with or worked for the Americans were murdered. Some could not leave our base because their names were reportedly on execution lists.

The Iraqi workers I talked to were ambivalent about the American occupation. They were grateful that we disposed of Hussein. Still, Iraqis only respond to a dictatorship form of rule, they said.

When Hussein was in power, violence was almost nonexistent, the employment rate was high and the country was peaceful. People were simply afraid to cause problems, the workers told me. “We’d rather live in fear” and have jobs than be free, an Iraqi worker said.

I also went on combat patrols and accompanied civil affairs and psychological operations soldiers conducting raids and humanitarian missions in cities and villages. Some people lived in squalor and lacked electricity, and they used water from filthy ponds. However, American service members and civilian contractors worked diligently to improve the country’s infrastructure.

The U.S. built water treatment plants, roads, bridges, schools, power plants, hospitals and health clinics. Despite efforts to rebuild the nation, Americans often came under fire by insurgents who shot mortar rounds and rocket-propelled grenades at the work sites. Iraq faces an uncertain future as U.S. combat forces leave and the civilian death toll continues to rise. Iraqis I talked to recently say they hate to see the Americans leave because the country does not have a government, and they don’t trust their military with the task of keeping the peace.

But a dictator is gone, some of the infrastructure is stronger than before, and the chance for peace exists. It’s up to the Iraqis now.

Ismail Turay is city editor of the Springfield News-Sun and a first lieutenant in the Ohio Army National Guard.

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