Iraq's Wild West

Fire of Liberty

As we read about the various reports of the casualties that our servicemen fighting in Western Iraq have endured these past weeks, we need to take their loss in perspective to the current mission at hand. According to a recent Op/Ed in The New York Post by Mackubin Thomas Owens, a professor at the Naval War College, these soldiers are having such losses because we're knocking down the doors of the terrorist safety zone in Western Iraq and what could be deemed the present day Ho Chi Min trail for the terrorists coming into Iraq. As with any military fight, the fighting gets more intense when you push further into the safety zones of the enemy, just look at what the Union soldiers experienced when they ventured South or how intense the fighting got in Berlin and the Japanese islands at the close of WW-II. So even though all seems woe in Iraq, what with the press constantly noting the deaths of our soldiers, the tide is turning in our favor. I'll defer to the following paragraphs from Owens wonderful piece to fully explain such an argument:

Brig. Gen. Carter Ham, commander of the multinational brigade conducting the operation, explained the strategic context of Operation Quick Strike during a briefing at the Pentagon on Wednesday: "Multinational Force West is conducting a number of operations in a number of those towns simultaneously, in an effort to deny the enemy freedom of movement, to deny them safe haven . . . Previously [the insurgents] may have had an opportunity to move. For example, if there was pressure in Hadithah, they could perhaps move someplace else.

"Well, now, because of the simultaneity of operations that Multinational Force West is conducting, they don't have that freedom of movement, and I think that's one of the contributing causes to [the increased] number of direct contacts that are occurring."

Ham also pointed out that the additional forces that made it possible to conduct simultaneous operations of this magnitude were Iraqi security forces. Ham explained that Iraqi forces were not directly involved in the Hadithah operation — but were in Rawah, the next town to the northwest. This is good news. It indicates that Iraqis are making progress in developing a competent army.

Of course, we mourn the loss of these Marines, as we do the loss of all service members fighting in this war. But the recent uptick in casualties indicates not so much that the enemy is becoming more aggressive, but that we are.

Casualties always increase when one side goes on the offensive. The fact that we are applying force simultaneously means that the enemy has no place to run and must stand and fight.

Yes, it's horrible to lose any soldier from our armed forces in battle but from the looks of it they're not dying in vain but a putting up a galant fight for democracy. So G-d bless all of your efforts and come home safe.