PDA

View Full Version : Don't be so quick to quit Iraq, say Marines



thedrifter
12-10-06, 06:44 AM
Don't be so quick to quit Iraq, say Marines

BY RICHARD SISK
DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU

WASHINGTON - From their vantage point in Fallujah, two seasoned Marines and a sailor view the new emphasis on training Iraqi troops as a tough sell with the locals that offers no quick exit for the U.S.

"We're starting to do more partner operations" with Marines and Iraqi troops working jointly, said Lt. Col. William Seely.

"We're working on getting them to expand their battle space control," Seely said, but he would not predict when the training wheels might come off.

"Long term, they have to be responsible for their own security," said Seely, 39, commander of the 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion of Regimental Combat Team 5.

Seely had a special insight on what failure for the U.S. could mean. He was born in what was then Saigon, the son of an American contractor and a Vietnamese mother, and came with his parents to the U.S. in the 1970s as South Vietnam fell to the Communists.

"There is some irony to the whole thing," Seely said, referring to his journey from birth in the midst of an unpopular war to his career leading Marines in another struggle much of the nation has turned against.

"The parallel I see is that if we don't win, if we don't accomplish our mission," Seely said, "the Iraqis will suffer the same fate" as the South Vietnamese who were persecuted and escaped in the massive "boat people" exodus.

Seely, his operations officer, Maj. Shaun Swanson, 38, of Wantagh, L.I., and Navy Petty Officer 1st Class John Murray, 32, of Patchogue, L.I., spoke by phone last Thursday from Camp Fallujah, 43 miles west of Baghdad.

That same day, two Marines on foot patrol were shot and wounded in a firefight on the streets of the city that was the scene of the worst fighting of the war in 2004.

In Washington, the White House and Pentagon focused on the blue-ribbon report calling for an emergency effort on training Iraqis that could lead to U.S. troop withdrawals in early 2008.

Seely, Swanson and Murray, all on their second tours in Iraq, said they had seen slow improvement in the Iraqi troops and police.

Murray said the initial training was on the rudiments of weapons and formations, and now was more focused on field operations. "They worked differently," Murray said. "They didn't even have a corpsman" for medical aid, which is his specialty. "At least now they have uniforms," Murray said.

Swanson said the primary mission of the Recon Marines of the battalion was to serve as "the commander's go-to reaction force" in a crisis, but they also work with the Iraqis.

"Last year, it was a lot more one-on-one" in training, Swanson said. "This year, it's a lot more having the Iraqi army control their own space, more going from training them to working with them. It's one of the success stories."

Originally published on December 10, 2006

Ellie