Michael O’Hanlon: Surge Architects Are the Vince Lombardis of Iraq War

Michael O’Hanlon compared himself and his fellow “surge architects” to Vince Lombardi, the legendary coach of the Green Bay Packers:

In an event at the American Enterprise Institute today, Brookings analyst Michael O’Hanlon — sitting next to hawks Fred Kagan and Ken Pollack — praised the Iraq surge, saying the surge architects would make former Green Bay Packers head coach Vince Lombardi “proud”:

I want to call them the Lombardis of this war. … And in addition to Fred and Ken who have been two of the most important people. Andy Krepinevich is another important think tanker. Retired Gen. Jack Keane from the outside. A small group of people inside the administration, smaller than it should have been, but people like Meghan O’Sullivan. […]

These people did two things that I think would have made Vince Lombardi proud. One, they stuck with it, and they persevered through difficult times. And two, they stayed focused on fundamentals.

Here’s a fundamental Michael O’Hanlon hasn’t considered: He and his fellow “think tankers” deserve no credit at all for whatever illusory security improvements can be attributed to the surge. These are the men who deserve the credit, and right now they’re mad as hell:

The success of the US “surge” strategy in Iraq may be under threat as Sunni militia employed by the US to fight al-Qaida are warning of a national strike because they are not being paid regularly.

Leading members of the 80,000-strong Sahwa, or awakening, councils have said they will stop fighting unless payment of their $10 a day (£5) wage is resumed. The fighters are accusing the US military of using them to clear al-Qaida militants from dangerous areas and then abandoning them.

A telephone survey by GuardianFilms for Channel 4 News reveals that out of 49 Sahwa councils four with more than 1,400 men have already quit, 38 are threatening to go on strike and two already have.

Improved security in Iraq in recent months has been attributed to a combination of the surge, the truce observed by Moqtada al-Sadr’s Mahdi army, and the effectiveness and commitment of the councils, which are drawn from Sunni Arabs and probably the most significant factor, according to most analysts.

In his speech marking the fifth anniversary of the war George Bush highlighted the significance of what he called “the first large-scale Arab uprising against Osama bin Laden”. Iraq, he said, “has become the place where Arabs joined with Americans to drive al-Qaida out.”

But dozens of phone calls to Sahwa leaders reveal bitterness and anger. “We know the Americans are using us to do their dirty work and kill off the resistance for them and then we get nothing for it,” said Abu Abdul-Aziz, the head of the council in Abu Ghraib, where 500 men have already quit.

“The Americans got what they wanted. We purged al-Qaida for them and now people are saying why should we have any more deaths for the Americans. They have given us nothing.”

Maybe not, but what matters is that the militia members have given the suits at the AEI a lovely opportunity for self-congratulation — and you can’t put a price on that.

Explore posts in the same categories: Politics

Tags: Kathy

You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.