DAY 4 TRAVELOGUE TO IRAQ

Hey all,

This is my last email from Eagle Base and G Co 2/9.  Tomorrow we head
back to Ramadi.  We’ve got a number of options on the table and are
trying to figure out what we want to see with our remaining time in
Ramadi before heading to Fallujah Saturday night.  It has been a great
trip with the Marines and incredibly special catching up with Gunny Fox.
We spent the night reminiscing and planning a hunting trip sometime in
the spring together.  He’s got a second baby daughter on the way in
April, just after he comes home so it may be hard to pull off.

I have to say, I’m exhausted after today.  We started off early and
ended late today.  In the morning we headed out with one of Gunny Fox’s
squads to a local police station and headed out on a joint patrol
through dusty farm roads along the banks of the Euphrates. A beautiful
and cold morning.  The Marines hung back as the police officers led the
way.  A big change from my days in Iraq when we struggled to train and
work alongside Iraqi forces.  Along the patrol we took the opportunity
to speak to many of the Marines.  They are tremendous young kids — that
hasn’t changed.  Most of them enlisted in 2006 and 2007, when things
were going terribly in Iraq and yet they signed up to serve their
country knowing full well they were headed into harms way.  Many have
been disappointed by the quiet, while the older vets who have served
here in combat are grateful.  It is astonishing, but the last two
infantry battalions in this area saw little to no combat.  Marines
receive a coveted ribbon called the combat action ribbon for
participating in combat operations.  Only a handful of Marines have
received one while serving in Al Anbar over the last year.  It is
certainly a different place.

I am still puzzled as to why it has changed so drastically and during
interviews throughout the rest of the day I pressed two sheiks and the
2/9 Battalion Commander today for reasons.  One of the Sheiks was the
brother of Abu Risha, the father of the Awakening movement.  Sometime in
2006, Abu Risha approached a number of other tribal leaders.  They
banded together and formed a military movement declaring “enough” of the
insurgency.  Brutal fighting resulted and Abu Risha was killed, but Al
Qaeda was eventually pushed out of Al Anbar.  Abu Risha’s legacy
persists and his face appears on posters everywhere in the province.
His brother told me about how brutal Al Qaeda was and that it took time
for the tribes and the coaltion to learn to trust each other.  We met in
a huge office in his brother’s old house where the Awakening apparently
began late one night.  Photos of him with Obama, President Bush, and
many Marine officers lined the walls.

We then headed out to meet Sheik Heiss at his house.  Two giant
mansions, one made of marble that cost an estimated $1.2m. We met in an
incredibly long room with giant chandaliers lined with chairs for tribal
meetings.  At least a hundred people could sit in the chairs lining the
room.  It was HUGE.  We drank turkish coffee and tea and talked about
the awakening.  He was recently quoted in the NYTs or WashPo about the
upcoming provincial elections.  Sheik Heiss was one of the first Sheiks
to work with the coalition in 2004.  He feels that the wrong people are
benefitting from the Awakening and warns violence could break out
depending on the results of the election.  He also said, that violence,
like that experienced in 2004-2007 will not return to the province.
Those days are over.  One of his brothers was killed by the coalition,
but he is quick to say it was mistaken.
Other family members, too many to count, were killed by Al Qaeda.  He
was even kidnapped and beaten and was wounded in the combat between the
tribes and AQI after the Awakening.  Sheik Heiss was also very proud to
show me a photo of him with President Bush in the Oval Office.

Apparently his house was destroyed by AQI sometime in the last few years
and I asked him how he could afford such a beautiful and expensive new
home.  Though I didn’t get an answer, I suspect it has something to do
with the different types of Sheils in Iraq.  There are Sheiks put in
power by the Ottomans, Sheiks put in power by the British, Sheiks who
put themselves in power through business, Sheiks put in power by Saddam,
and finally, the American Sheiks- namely leaders, often lower leaders
who remained in Iraq when more senior tribal leaders fled outside the
country, who aligned with the US and, well, did ok because of it.  The
counterinsurgency manual states that money is a weapon.  As far as I am
concerned, better to shed treasure than blood if Marines are going home
alive, security persists and people can return to living their lives in
peace.

Finally, we went back to Camp Ramadi for dinner and to interview the
Battalion Commander.  We spoke for an hour about the operations his
battalion is conducting and about his experiences in Iraq.  He was here
as an infantry officer during the bloodiest months in Ramadi in 2005,
but before you think he was engaged in combat he was braving ambushes
and firefights to get to the government center in order to help lead the
governance and economic development of the province.  Fascinating
conversation about how and why someone trained to close with and destroy
the enemy is engaged in peace corps type operations — granted it is a
combat zone.

Much more to write, but is is my last night with Gunny Fox and we want
to catch up some more, more to follow….

Keep those emails coming and can’t wait to see you all when I get
home…

Love and best,

Zach

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