A true patriot that needs support

Recently, Al Lorentz wrote an article entitled "Why We Can't Win" about the problems we face in Iraq. Who is Al Lorentz and why should we care what he has to say? Those questions are answered in the opening paragraph:

Before I begin, let me state that I am a soldier currently deployed in Iraq, I am not an armchair quarterback. Nor am I some politically idealistic and naïve young soldier, I am an old and seasoned Non-Commissioned Officer with nearly 20 years under my belt. Additionally, I am not just a soldier with a muds-eye view of the war, I am in Civil Affairs and as such, it is my job to be aware of all the events occurring in this country and specifically in my region.

Al Lorentz is someone with the experience and firsthand knowledge relevant to an assessment of what is going on in Iraq. As Karen Kwiatowski (former USAF Lt. Col.) says in her column "Roadmap for the Prosecution" (published at www.lewrockwell.com), Lorentz has something very important: credibility. That's who he is and just part of the reason why we should care. Lorentz's next two paragraphs succinctly state the outlook and the primary reasons therefor:

I have come to the conclusion that we cannot win here for a number of reasons. Ideology and idealism will never trump history and reality.

When we were preparing to deploy, I told my young soldiers to beware of the "political solution." Just when you think you have the situation on the ground in hand, someone will come along with a political directive that throws you off the tracks.

(emphasis added). The emphasized portions show what I believe to be THE major reason Iraq is such a mess: our political "leaders" have utterly failed our nation and the men and women who serve in the armed forces. This is a subject I have addressed in many other posts (a list of which is here), and Lorentz, a career Army NCO with the relevant experience and firsthand knowledge, is saying much the same thing. As explained in Official campaign planning doctrine and the post-war period, the primary responsibility for planning of the post-war period rested with Bush and Rumsfeld. I have argued that they screwed up to a degree that transcends incompetence. And now Lorentz has provided further evidence of that.

Before detailing what Lorentz has to say, I must tell you more reasons why we all should care about Al Lorentz. As Kwiatowski writes, "Al’s military chain of command is considering charging him with violation of 18 USC 2388, willfully causing or attempting to cause insubordination, disloyalty, mutiny, or refusal of duty, in the military forces of the US." David Hackworth (retired Army Colonel) points out in his column "Muzzling Soldiers is Nothing New" that Lorentz faces up to 20 years in prison. Knowing those possible consequences, he nonetheless had the courage to speak the truth. That is why we should care about Al Lorentz. Here is a man who has dedicated his life to serving his country, and when he speaks the truth in an effort to still serve his country, he faces 20 years in prison because the "leaders" do not want that truth--and their own failings--to be exposed. That is why we all should care about Al Lorentz.

With that in mind, let's look at what Lorentz says. Judge for yourself whether he is being disloyal and mutinous, or, as Kwiatowski says, he gives "a recipe for success." Lorentz gives five reasons why we are failing in Iraq.

First, we refuse to deal in reality. We are in a guerilla war, but because of politics, we are not allowed to declare it a guerilla war and must label the increasingly effective guerilla forces arrayed against us as "terrorists, criminals and dead-enders."

This implies that there is a zero sum game at work, i.e. we can simply kill X number of the enemy and then the fight is over, mission accomplished, everybody wins. Unfortunately, this is not the case. We have few tools at our disposal and those are proving to be wholly ineffective at fighting the guerillas.

The idea behind fighting a guerilla army is not to destroy its every man (an impossibility since he hides himself by day amongst the populace). Rather the idea in guerilla warfare is to erode or destroy his base of support.

So long as there is support for the guerilla, for every one you kill two more rise up to take his place. More importantly, when your tools for killing him are precision guided munitions, raids and other acts that create casualties among the innocent populace, you raise the support for the guerillas and undermine the support for yourself. (A 500-pound precision bomb has a casualty-producing radius of 400 meters minimum; do the math.)

In detailing what is being done wrong, Lorentz is giving a description of the reality on the ground and what needs to be done. That could help save American lives and increase the chances of success. How dare he show such disloyalty! Why does he hate freedom?

Second, our assessment of what motivates the average Iraqi was skewed, again by politically motivated "experts." We came here with some fantasy idea that the natives were all ignorant, mud-hut dwelling camel riders who would line the streets and pelt us with rose petals, lay palm fronds in the street and be eternally grateful. While at one time there may have actually been support and respect from the locals, months of occupation by our regular military forces have turned the formerly friendly into the recently hostile.

Attempts to correct the thinking in this regard are in vain; it is not politically correct to point out the fact that the locals are not only disliking us more and more, they are growing increasingly upset and often overtly hostile. Instead of addressing the reasons why the locals are becoming angry and discontented, we allow politicians in Washington DC to give us pat and convenient reasons that are devoid of any semblance of reality.

We are told that the locals are not upset because we have a hostile, aggressive and angry Army occupying their nation. We are told that they are not upset at the police state we have created, or at the manner of picking their representatives for them. Rather we are told, they are upset because of a handful of terrorists, criminals and dead enders in their midst have made them upset, that and of course the ever convenient straw man of "left wing media bias."

This shows the extent of stupidity and delusion that our "leaders" manifested before the war. I will be addressing this in detail when I get back to my analysis of the Wolfowitz vs. Shinseki situation before the war, but I will give a synopsis here. The one thing all people with any actual connection to Iraq agreed upon prior to the war was that the occupation had better be brief, because the longer it went, the more hostile all Iraqis, regardless of any other differences between them, would become toward the U.S. Also, some of the plans made before the war exhibited the arrogant "fantasy ideas" mentioned by Lorentz. As the Boston Globe reported on March 13, 2003, the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance (the group in charge before the CPA) had been hiring Iraqi expatriates. A senior DoD official went on to say this: "They understand the democratic process, and as we use them to facilitate what's going on, we think that's a good recipe -- to have people that were born and raised in those provinces but now have lived in a democracy. And they can explain things to the people there, who have been oppressed for the last 30 years or so." (emphasis added). That's treating Iraqis as if they were "ignorant, mud-hut dwelling camel riders."

Third, the guerillas are filling their losses faster than we can create them. This is almost always the case in guerilla warfare, especially when your tactics for battling the guerillas are aimed at killing guerillas instead of eroding their support. For every guerilla we kill with a "smart bomb" we kill many more innocent civilians and create rage and anger in the Iraqi community. This rage and anger translates into more recruits for the terrorists and less support for us.

We have fallen victim to the body count mentality all over again. We have shown a willingness to inflict civilian casualties as a necessity of war without realizing that these same casualties create waves of hatred against us. These angry Iraqi citizens translate not only into more recruits for the guerilla army but also into more support of the guerilla army.

There is no need to add anything regarding the third reason.

The fourth and fifth reasons are "their lines of supply and communication are much shorter than ours and much less vulnerable," and "we consistently underestimate the enemy and his capabilities. Many military commanders have prepared to fight exactly the wrong war here." These present topics for another time that relate to issues of "transformation" and some of the major war games that occurred prior to the war, but I will not address those here, for the emphasis in this post is on Al Lorentz.

Hackworth says the following about the military's efforts to stop soldiers communicating the actual facts to people:

Then there’s the personal attack on anyone with a point of view that’s different from the party line: You’re un-American; or you’re supporting the enemy or not supporting the troops. The latest tactic is to say you’re sending out mixed messages that hurt troop morale.

But according to our soldiers in Iraq, this is just not true. They say their morale is in the toilet because of how badly the war’s been handled, not because of what’s being reported or debated by politicians.

Lorentz, by speaking out, is not being disloyal to anyone. He is trying to protect his fellow soldiers by getting our "leaders" to wake up, face reality, and act accordingly. He is trying to get Bush, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, etc. to stop looking after their own political interests and focus on the interests of the men and women Bush ordered to fight a war for our country. As "Big Al" says, "Because the current administration is more concerned with its image than it is with reality, it prefers symbolism to substance: soldiers are dying here and being maimed and crippled for life."

And for that Lorentz could go to prison for 20 years. And where does that leave the rest of us? The fact that this question is raised at all is why we should all care about Al Lorentz and why we should all support this true patriot.