Feeding the counterinsurgency effort part two
...It is a long and fascinating account with several pictures and videos. It is interesting to see Lt. Col. Johnson work the mayor to buck up his courage and at the same time keep his authority. The fight to get the food back to Baqubah, while not kinetic was a daunting as many battles. It could be one of the most important battles in the counterinsurgency effort--bringing food back to the people. It shows you how important people like Tonto can be to winning a war.
The American press that flooded in for the kinetic fighting in Baqubah left when the shooting stopped. Their interest waned for covering these aspects of counterinsurgency. They were gone and missing the real story. Nobody was even watching, but this play was not for the Americans journalists, it was for the Iraqi people. So with the drivers frightened and ready to abort, the mission could do worse than merely fail, it could backfire. (Like the entire war.)
...Some drivers wanted desperately to go home. The Mayor of Baqubah, caught between his job and his fear, was having second thoughts. Clearly he was scared, everyone could see it. He was leaning on the abort button and his angst reinforced the fear in the drivers.
LTC Johnson bristled when he spoke to the collapsing convoy, telling them that that the future of Iraq would depend on the outcome of moments like this all over the country, where men either stand their ground, or run away and give the day to the terrorists. Johnson’s words carried particular weight because of an encounter earlier that morning.
That morning, still in Baqubah and trying to get the convoy organized, a truck driver had approached us with intention in his eyes. LTC Johnson closed on the man whom he suspected was a suicide bomber. My video was running as Johnson drew his pistol. If a bomb had detonated, Johnson and a few others would have definitely been killed. I might have survived—although in no condition to write these words—but had I, it would have been solely due to Johnson and the others having closed space with the man. But they actually risked their lives not to save mine, but his: they could have shot him from a distance of perhaps even 10m farther, but it happened so suddenly they just moved straight in. That was courage.
As it happened, the man who had closed space with us was simply an Iraqi coming forward to help start the convoy rolling. The Iraqi man—I’ll call him “Tonto” because he’s still in the thick of the war—owned some trucks and wanted to get his business going. Guts and capitalism make an impressive combination.
In the weeks ahead, Tonto would become a key figure in rallying courage and can-do among some of the more tentative leaders in Baqubah. Whenever LTC Johnson was having problems raising enough of either, I would hear him say, “Where is Tonto!” (Only, Johnson would use Tonto’s real name, and might spice-in a colorful turn, as in: “Where the xxxx is Tonto?! I need him! Call his mobile!“) Tonto looked like he might weigh a 120lbs if he had just eaten and his pockets were full of sand. But he was a talisman for summoning courage among his fellow Iraqis.
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The Belmont Club has more on the character building experience for the Iraqis who eventually succeeded in the mission. "We few, we Band of Brothers." While his comments are extensive they are as interesting as the article itself. What Yon has done is manage to take the focus off of violence and onto real world problem solving in Iraq and you find its as fascinating as the violence that grabs more attention.
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