Major sees progress in Iraq

Mt. Shasta News:

During a 10-month tour in Iraq, US Marine Major Kevin Charter was an advisor and trainer to a 700 man Iraqi army battalion fighting against the insurgency.

Charter believes not enough attention is being paid to the progress being made by Iraqis in taking control of their country. He said the people of Iraq are grateful Saddam Hussein has been overthrown.

“Our job was to assist the Iraqis in counter insurgency operations,” Charter said following his recent return to Siskiyou County, where he works as an investment counselor for Edward Jones. “These were Iraqi volunteers out of boot camp. We would provide weapons training in between normal day-to-day operations. Our American unit took one killed in action and three wounded. The Iraqi battalion took 30 to 40 casualties with a dozen dead. They are taking the brunt. They are dying right alongside the Americans.”

Charter was stationed in Mosul, the second largest city in Iraq, comparable in size to Sacramento.

“I was told by an Iraqi that only two things could get rid of Saddam, the United States or Allah. I will never forget that,” Charter said. “An Iraqi officer told me that if we just up and left the country would implode. They are so grateful for us being there and toppling Saddam. Even the Sunnis, who benefited under Saddam, thanked us.”

Charter said the Iraq people see the fall of Saddam as an “opportunity to change.”

“They understand democracy and what that means,” Charter said. “Just having a choice of who governs. They had 32 years of Saddam with no choice.”

...

Charter said most Iraqis agree the suicide Jihadists do not represent even a small portion of the Iraqi people.

“The Iraqis would tell us the Jihadists are ‘not right in the head,'” Charter said.

As for how long the United States will have to maintain a presence in Iraq Charter asks, “In what form?”

“I see advisors being there for seven years. We will slowly reduce the number of advisors as the Iraqis take over,” Charter said. “The focus has changed. We're sending more and more of our military to be advisors. This is a forward step in the process.”

...

There is more.