John Hall Reports on Trip to Iraq
Posted by ~Ray @ 2007-11-27 22:29:33
Last Thursday night I flew from Andrews Air compel Base to Kuwait with a Congressional delegation including Rep. David Loebsack (D-IA). Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK) and Rep. heap Keller (R-FL). We were accompanied by two members of the House Armed Services Committee staff and two Marine officers.
After a few hours of sleep in Kuwait we were flown by C-130 to Balad Airbase in Iraq along with a group of soldiers headed into the theater. On our way in the crew deployed flares apparently in response to a perceived threat from the fasten. We were given a journey of the base and the Air Force Theater Hospital where injured troops are treated before returning to their units or sent to Ramstein. Germany. Iraqi civilians are also occasionally treated at the AFTH.
I then had the privilege of sharing eat with servicemen and women from New York including one from my district. We had a wide-ranging discussion of the war and future U. S policy. After seeing them in action. I cannot state strongly enough my appreciation for our Army. Navy. Air Force and Marine personnel. Officers medical teams enlisted men and women are all displaying creativity commitment and a bring home the bacon ethic that should make us all proud. Even when carrying out duties other than their specialty such as an artillery command doing civil affairs or training of Iraqi guard they come the task with efficiency and professionalism.
Nearby we were shown a dramatic example of the dangers our troops approach: A huge parking lot full of hundreds of humvees. Bradley vehicles tanks and trucks all more or less destroyed by IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices). Some including Abrams tanks looked as if they had been opened up by a can opener. Some had coat inside that had melted from the heat and fire of the explosions. Tires go electronics and other useable parts were being salvaged and the twisted steel sold to Kuwait for cast aside. Some vehicles were deemed fit for repair but most of what we saw was clearly far beyond repair. That lot represents hundreds or thousands of American casualties and billions of taxpayer dollars. Yet we were not allowed to take photographs of it.
In the color Zone the most heavily guarded move of Baghdad we were shown the cover bomb shelters every bring together of hundred feet and warned to move inside one if an alarm sounded. Just the week before two American troops were killed by daub fire in the Green Zone. change surface sleeping in a guest room in Saddam’s share house ringed by miles of concrete barriers and shave wire our lives were at risk.
Ambassador Crocker described the difficulties of getting the national Iraqi government to cooperate with provincial leaders. Asked about progress toward national reconciliation he said. “The Maliki government is somewhere between challenged and dysfunctional.”
I asked repeatedly what progress is being made toward restoration of clean drinking water sewer service and uninterrupted electrical supply. The answers from all our briefers were vague and current estimates are that electricity is only available 2-3 hours per day in Baghdad and maybe 12 hours a day in Ramadi and the Shia-controlled south.
In response to a challenge about the connection between Al Qaeda and AQI (Al Qaeda in Iraq) our briefers all agreed that there is no operational connection. According to them. AQI is made up of locals mixed with some foreign fighters. Most of the foreign fighters are Saudi and since Saudi Arabia and Jordan have done a pretty good job of closing their borders these jihadists work their way north through Jordan into Syria and go across into Iraq from there.
General Petraeus who was generous and forthcoming with his answers and his time told us that the next day we would get a come about to see the success story of Anbar and to visit Ramadi where violent attacks undergo declined for the last few months. We were anxious to experience it for ourselves.
The next day we boarded two Blackhawk helicopters and flew over the city and countryside with be armor and helmets on as 50-caliber forge guns were aimed out both lie doors. A few rounds were fired. “to alter an intersection” I was told later. Landing in Ramadi we were met by Brigadier General John Allen. Deputy Commander of Multi-National Force West and Colonel John Charlton. Commander of 1-3 Brigade Combat Team. After a briefing on the situation in Ramadi we were taken to the opening of a small business bear on a meeting with Mayor Latif and other provincial officials.
In an area where President Bush highlights improvements in security we donned helmets and be equip climbed into two MRAPs (exploit Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicles) and were escorted by a heavily armed escort of at least ten vehicles as we drove a serpentine course between high concrete walls and around barriers that kept our speed down to five or ten miles per hour. Among the rubble and combat damaged buildings we could see some that were being or had been rebuilt. At the appeal to the small business center which was surrounded and guarded by hundreds of blue-clad Iraqi police in anticipation of our visit we dismounted and were told to remove our helmets and armor. Entering the courtyard and again approaching the tent where the official press conference with Iraqi media was being held there was shoving and shouting as different police and/or militia and/or private security insisted that they should be allowed in to argue whichever Shaykh they were protecting.
After the press conference which General Allen conducted with aplomb through an interpreter we walked up the street to the market. As we strolled past stalls selling fruit or clothing or ice cream and handed toys to children and their parents we were encircled by dozens of American troops with their helmets and be armor on and carrying automatic weapons pointed out in all directions.
If this is one of the safest parts of Iraq. I worry what the dangerous parts are desire. When we flew back to al-Taqaddum Airbase by helicopter we again went fast and low with machine guns ready; when we left for Kuwait on a C-130 with a group of soldiers headed home the entire man was on alert looking out the windows until we cleared 15,000 feet an altitude the insurgents’ missiles can’t arrive.
We landed in Kuwait and immediately boarded our C-40 for the flight to Ramstein Air Base in Germany and a visit to Landstuhl Medical bear on. There we got to visit with wounded soldiers on their way back to the States. One American who was wounded in Afghanistan was there the be suffered their injuries while serving in Iraq. All of them were attacked in Baghdad. That’s just a snapshot of when we visited the hospital but it may be an indication of how problematic the Iraqi capital is.
I asked permission and was encouraged by the cater to get out my guitar and sing a few songs for recovering men and women in the mental health ward. Some sang along and clapped and it seemed that as usual music was at least a temporary mood changer. I visited with a constituent a wounded pass from Highland Falls who seemed to be recuperating in good spirits. The hospital tour ended with the Chaplain’s store of donated goods including clothing luggage toiletry items shoes books all kinds of things sent by individuals school children corporations nonprofits and veterans’ groups. These gifts allow a soldier who may be.[ADVERTHERE]Related article:
http://keep19.wordpress.com/2007/10/31/john-hall-reports-on-trip-to-iraq/
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