John McCain had a busy weekend - an armored vehicle tour of Baghdad from the airport to the downtown shopping district where shopkeepers gave him gifts of souvenirs. Accompanying him were several Republican politicians, his new best friends - a platoon of fully armed soldiers - and some of the best aerial reconnaissance in the world.
Upon the commencement of the media feeding frenzy, McCain commented that the security and stability of Baghdad were improving. Meanwhile, six soldiers were killed - two initially, then an additional four responding to the fatalities.
Next fall he should go to Florida and stand in the eye of a hurricane and comment about what a beautiful day it is.
Although I continue to be wary of the lasting effects the additional 21,000 troops we will have in Baghdad, what I have seen from the media speaks a tremendous volume of the tenacity of the U.S. Army. Baghdad does indeed seem to have reached what might be a pinnacle of security and stability since the early occupation of Iraq.
But we must not forget the lessons history has taught us. It is at these junctions of some columns that I mention the lessons of the Vietnam War and World War II. History though has given me the unpleasant ability to recall more recent lessons, specifically those we should have learned in the Al Anbar province of Iraq, which contains the city of Fallujah.
The Army's 82nd Airborne occupied Fallujah in April 2003 to little resistance and set up shop. Amidst growing violence, mostly contained within the citizenry, the city was passed from one Army unit to another until finally coming under the responsibility of a Marine Expeditionary Force on the first day of March 2004.
On the last day of March, private American contractors were ambushed and killed - their bodies were burned, dragged through the streets and hung on a bridge.
The Marines went from occupation to pacification overnight - pacification being the act of killing those that might kill you. Although political pressure led to a controversial siege and a fa+â-ºade of a cease fire, a full assault was finally conducted in November 2004. After nearly a month of heavy, house-to-house fighting, the city was declared pacified.
The insurgents were flushed out, and intelligence has tracked them to attacks in Mosul and Baghdad.
Fallujah experienced several months of relative peace, until insurgency attacks, mostly by Improvised Explosive Devices, began to rise again.
Another Marine - wounded and recently returned from Iraq - and I were involved in a guided discussion about the troops in Iraq. This Marine was shot by a sniper patrolling the streets of Fallujah and shared the experience of having 10 Marines in his unit being killed shortly after beginning operations in "pacified" Fallujah.
Fallujah has been the site of the recent attacks by chlorine bombs which were coordinated with suicide bombers on foot and small arms fire.
Marines under fire act accordingly, and collateral damage - the diplomatic method of describing the result of an 81 millimeter mortar round impacting a building - is impossible to avoid. The city is a shell of its former self and an estimated 70 percent of the population has fled. Those that remain are becoming increasingly hostile toward American forces.
This is just one example of the ebb and flow of insurgency in Iraq and how monumental the task of putting it down for good is.
Putting down the insurgency in Fallujah, Baghdad or Mosul is like stepping on Playdough - you may get a little in the tread, but most of it is just going to come oozing out on either side of your boot.
I truly wish that the insurgency would be permanently routed out of Baghdad, and that McCain were standing in the eye of a dissipating hurricane. But this lesson is teaching us that it is unfortunately only a matter of time before another bomb rips through the peaceful Baghdad market, and we add additional figures to the 3,258 deaths already on the conscience of America.
Write to Jason at jlhodson@bsu.edu
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