If you read milblogs, you get to hear regularly from U.S. servicemen and women about the improving situation in Iraq.
Far more rare is a Canadian officer's ground-level perspective on the effort there. Meet LCol Darryl Mills, a CF officer on exchange as Deputy Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army's 3rd Infantry Division currently operating in Baghdad:
LTC Mills seems to believe that the section of Iraq under 3ID's responsibility has hit a tipping point, though he didn't use that phrase. As security improves, “markets pop up everywhere, providing local economy stimulation and security, which creates a Circle of Life in some ways.” Coalition forces are “no longer worrying about the crisis of the day. The Iraqi government and military are stronger each day, exercise their power more each day.” As things get better and better, LTC Mills reports they become self-reinforcing. “Once you get to a certain point there is no going back. Each day government, economy and military get stronger and it’s harder for the terrorists to come back.”***
He's also adamant about the growth he's seeing in Iraqi capabilities. “I’m here on the ground, so I see the change day-to-day, he reports. I see a government that is standing up.”
Because of his optimism and the upward trajectory of conditions in the AO, LTC Mills almost sounded disappointed when he spoke of GEN Petreaus' Tuesday testimony on Capitol Hill. “I get his comments about ‘guarded optimism,’” he said. And he agreed with GEN Petraeus' message of “let’s not rush,” but LTC Mills is obviously very optimistic and excited about the future. He acknowledged that improvements are uneven across Iraq, “[But] in our area, there has been a lot of progress... it has been quite substantial.”
I suspect it would not surprise many readers that one of the bigger challenges 3ID is facing right now has to do with the homefront. As Deputy Chief of Staff, LTC Mills doesn't usually interact directly with VIPs who visit from the U.S., but he hears about the visits and has definite opinions about them. “We respect [visitors who are informed and] can speak about the before and after... who tend not to come in with an agenda. Not all are like that, sadly.”
As the cool kids say, RTWT.
Posted by Damian at April 11, 2008 4:03 PMI'll stand up and salute you LTC Mills -- Job well done...
For your hard work and dedication. My hat is off to you!
...Orlin from the USA
...and now for a short pause while we wait for the trolls to try to reconcile their belief that Canada has no soldiers in Iraq with the reality.
(My own brother, a Major in the CF, has been to Iraq twice now)
Posted by: CERDIP at April 11, 2008 4:34 PMShhh, don't tell anyone we're in Iraq! It'll cause the left to go absolutely batsh*t crazy(er).
RG
Posted by: RightGirl at April 11, 2008 4:34 PMCERDIP -- moonbats want everyone to believe that! Not me
Posted by: Orlin at April 11, 2008 4:38 PMI agree, RightGirl. I can just see Stephan Dion, standing in a puddle of his own piddle, sobbing uncontrolably (upon hearing the news of the 'excahnge soldier' in Iraq).
Damn, I've got to get back into drawing political cartoons. There's just so much material available nowadays!
I could draw two versions of Dion standing in pee. The first one would be as I just described, the second version would be Dion's pet pooch, Kyoto, hoisting his leg on his master who is holding a newspaper headining global warming as fraud.
Sorry if I'm too O/T Kate.
Posted by: Eskimo at April 11, 2008 4:43 PMRTWT?
Posted by: Darrell at April 11, 2008 5:04 PMLove the photo and the article in The National Post by David Menzies about inventing a periscope and a suction cup and mirror in order to see over the huge snowbanks blinding his driveway for getting out safely with his car.
Global warming, my bumper!
Posted by: Nicola Timmerman at April 11, 2008 5:05 PMRTWT - Read The Whole Thing
Posted by: CERDIP at April 11, 2008 5:23 PMThank you for your service, Lieutenant. That has to build morale with the U.S. troops seeing neighbors joining the fray.
Posted by: iowavette at April 11, 2008 5:31 PMJack Lateagain's head will explode when he finds out about this.
Posted by: Sounder at April 11, 2008 6:12 PMGod Bless America and God bless the Canadian soldiers that are supporting and serving in this mission.
And may God damn their detractors.
I worked with Mills in the past, he's a groundpounder from way back, very checked out. Good to see he's our rep!
Posted by: pongo at April 11, 2008 6:35 PMIIRC, there were something like 25-30 Canadians on exchange going into Iraq at the time, and one Canadian officer commanded an entire U.S Army corps in combat operations. But we're peacekeepers, right?
Posted by: CMP at April 11, 2008 6:38 PM91 years ago this week we were peacekeepers at Vimy Ridge as well.
Posted by: Fred at April 11, 2008 7:55 PMmore like peace makers.
Posted by: allan5oh at April 11, 2008 8:02 PMNope!! Keeping the Peace. Same as Uncle Wyatt did in Tombstone.
Posted by: Pat at April 11, 2008 8:49 PMThank you Fred & CERDIP. Seems so obvious now.
Posted by: Darrell at April 12, 2008 2:26 AMGreeny caught Liberal MP Boob Rae, Mao Strong's nephew, real good in a chokehold.
Boob choked on this: "our [Canada's] direct involvement in the war in Iraq".
...-
Rae Seriously Uninformed Regarding Iraq
March
"While answering a question last night at the St. Lawrence debate, I mentioned that it’s important for us to realize that there are currently Canadian military officers serving in Iraq as part of the American command. Bob Rae interrupted me to object adamantly, almost angrily. “No there aren’t!”
Yes, I said, there are. “No there aren’t,” Mr. Rae said again. “They’re part of our military exchange program,” I explained. (I’m paraphrasing from memory for now, but will be able to check the tape later and will post the video when I can. UPDATE [March 13th @ 10:21pm]: Video of this exchange is now available, in both full and shortened versions.) Strangely, Mr. Rae demanded I tell him where in Iraq our officers were stationed, as if my inability to do so would prove they weren’t there.
At that point, seeing no immediate resolution to our disagreement, I moved on with the rest of my answer. Today, however, having confirmed that I was correct, I’m quite taken aback that Mr. Rae could have been so misinformed about our military’s exchange program with the United States and our direct involvement in the war in Iraq. It’s made worse by the fact that Mr. Rae isn’t just any Liberal candidate: he’s the party’s foreign affairs critic."
http://www.christindal.ca/