Local veterans, refugees look to Iraq's future
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Chattanooga Times Free Press
Todd South
09/01/2010
As U.S. troops leave Iraq, some Iraqi refugees in Chattanooga worry their country isn't ready to take charge of its own future, but local veterans of the conflict are cautiously optimistic.
"(Iraqis) are saying the situation is getting better now," said Nihad Samawi, a 50-year-old Iraqi refugee living in Chattanooga. "But I think (terrorists) are just taking a rest and waiting. Waiting for when the American Army gets out of Iraq."
Seven years have passed since the U.S.-led coalition invaded Iraq, toppling Sadaam Hussein's government. In that time, victory turned to chaos as sectarian violence erupted across the country and casualties — both U.S. and Iraqi — mounted.
Staff Photo by Tim Barber/Chattanooga Times Free Press - Aug 28, 2010 - Aram Putrus, 29, moved from Iraq to Chattanooga to raise his family. But, Mr. Putrus has yet successfully get his family here.
A 2007 U.S. troop surge and shifting alliances among insurgent groups against al-Qaida terrorist groups reduced the killings. Shortly after taking office, Obama set an Aug. 31, 2010 deadline for withdrawal of most combat troop units.
Military units met that deadline two weeks ago and the number of U.S. troops now is estimated at 50,000, down from a high of 170,000 during the surge.
Retired U.S. Army Gen. B.B. Bell and Chattanooga residentoversaw training and deployment in Europe for U.S. Army soldiers who participated in the invasion of Iraq and commanded units on combat tours in the country shortly after the invasion.
The general applauded sacrifices made by military members and their families to bring stability to a country that proved much different — more unstable, more violence, less cooperation — than American leaders expected after initial combat.
"What we want to see is a stable Iraq that is friendly to us and is a buttress in the Middle East," he said.
Bell doubted, after the most recent reduction of troops, that the military would be called again to do combat offensive operations in Iraq. Those who remain in the country serve "strictly support" such as training and advisement, he said.
In 2006, Bell left his European forces command to lead military units in South Korea and said there are parallels to the Korean conflict, which lasted three years and established a U.S.-South Korea partnership, including U.S. bases in the Asian country, that lasts to this day.
"By sticking with it over the long haul, we have made close friends," Bell said.
While the future of Iraq is murky with no formalized central government and insurgents still planting IEDs and creating unrest, there are some measures of success that can be used, the general said.
"Ten years from now, if Iraq is a modern state with modern views, a nation that outreaches to the world economically, I think we will all say, 'You know, that was tough, but the benefit to the Middle East and the rest of the world was worth it.'"
U.S. TROOP LEVELS
* 90,000: March 31, 2003, beginning of war
* 170,000: October 2007, peak of troop buildup
* 49,700: Aug. 31, 2010
Source: Associated Press
CASUALTIES
* At least 4,416: Confirmed U.S. military deaths as of Aug. 31, 2010:
* 31,929: Confirmed U.S. military wounded (hostile) as of Aug. 31, 2010:
* 40,166: Confirmed U.S. military wounded (non-hostile, using medical air transport) as of July 31, 2010
* More than 97,461: Iraqi deaths since the 2003 invasion
Source: Associated Press
COST
More than $744 billion, according to the National Priorities Project. To date, $747.3 billion has been allocated to the war since 2003. In January 2010, the Congressional Budget Office projected that additional war costs for the next 10 years could range from $274 billion to $588 billion.
Source: Associated Press
IRAQI ELECTRICITY
May 2003: 500 megawatts generated nationwide
August 2010: 5,880 megawatts generated nationwide
Source: Associated Press
IRAQI TELEPHONES
September 2003: 600,000 land lines and an estimated 80,000 cellular
January 2010: 1.3 million land lines and 19.5 million cellular
Source: Associated Press
INTERNAL REFUGEES
2003: 1.02 million
2010: An estimated 1.55 million people are currently displaced inside Iraq.
Source: Associated Press
EMIGRANTS
2003: 500,000 Iraqis living abroad
2010: Approximately 2 million Iraqis, mainly in Syria and Jordan
June 2010: At least 275,350 refugees and internally displaced persons have returned to Iraq.
Source: Associated Press
If the country does not stabilize or becomes closely aligned with or a proxy of the hardline religious, anti-Western government in Iran, then "we may look back on this as a time where we went from one bad apple, Sadaam Hussein, to a whole basket of bad apples," he said.
LIVING IN IRAQ
Aram Putrus lived the first 25 years of his life near Mosul, Iraq. He worked with U.S. troops as an interpreter through the bloody years of sectarian violence that raged across his country.
"At the beginning, everyone was happy," Putrus, now 28, said. "Until [after] the first six months ... It started in Fallujah when they hung the Americans. That was where it started."
On March 31, 2004, four employees of Blackwater Security Consulting were killed in Fallujah, their bodies burned then hung on bridges.
When his name appeared on an death-threat list, posted by insurgents on local mosque door, Putrus fled to Turkey then Greece before the U.S. government granted him a special visa to come live in Chattanooga in 2008. With his family still in Iraq, Putrus works jobs at a restaurant and tire dealership.
The violence and religious extremism were unknown in his country before the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, Putrus said. What most confounded him was that Americans allowed the mixture of religion and politics, which deepened ethnic and cultural divisions, sowing seeds of hate that exploded in the almost-daily conflicts.
Within days of the U.S. withdrawal, which started two weeks ago, insurgents bombed Iraqi police stations, which Putrus said are evidence of the terrorists' intent to again battle for power now that most of the U.S. forces are out of the picture.
"I never imagined that the Americans would leave this soon," he said. "I'm afraid it's going to be violent again."
SERVING IN IRAQ
U.S. Army Maj. Luke Calhoun, a Chattanooga native, has deployed three times to Iraq, serving mostly in intelligence operations. The most challenging task for him and his troops was understanding the culture and people of Iraq, he said.
"It took us a little time to understand the intricacies of the tribal relationships, how to interact with and understand the community," Calhoun said.
With each deployment, the major saw progress in both the military's understanding and the professionalism of the Iraqi police and Army members.
"Although fringe elements you see on the news are anti-American," he said, "The average Iraqi trusted an American soldier more than their own police."
Calhoun said the Iraqi military is on "sound footing" and can do what needs to be done for security, but the quality of police departments vary depending upon the local department heads.
He dismissed media reports in recent weeks that have focused on the failure of Iraqi leaders to establish a national government.
"From my experience, the average Iraqi will talk negatively about the national government just as the average American will talk negatively about their national government," he said. "But at the local level, as long as the politicians are doing what they need to do ... the local Iraqis are going to be taken care of."
The major saw the 2007 troop surge tamp down sectarian violence firsthand and said he doubts that violence will return to those levels.
"A lot of the people that were doing that are dead or are in prison," he said. "And a lot instigating those situations aren't trusted by people."
DEALING WITH U.S.
Samawi worked with the American military almost as soon as it entered Baghdad. An engineer, he helped set up infrastructure such as electrical and construction projects for units and later worked with two international corporations in Fallujah and near Baghdad.
His home and family were attacked by terrorist groups when they learned he was helping foreigners. He took his family to Jordan and worked another year in Iraq before fleeing himself.
He arrived in Chattanooga in late 2008 on a special visa and is still working to have his family join him.
Samawi, who now works at a local print company, saw the American invasion as a chance for Iraqis to rid themselves of Sadaam and he welcomed the possibilities for his country. But the violence that followed shocked everyone.
Before the war, most Iraqis saw themselves as Iraqis, not Sunni or Shia or other tribal, ethnic and religious identities, he said. After the invasion, he thought it would take five years to form a stable government and have a secure, peaceful nation.
Now it will be at least five years, he said, and maybe a decade before that happens.
"I think the U.S. Army has to stay to complete its mission," Samawi said.
Problems forming the government worry Samawi. Current people in power are only concerned with their ethnic group and getting as much money and power as they can, he said.
"(Iraq) needs leaders that love Iraq, their country and people," he said.
Both Samawi and Putrus said they are thankful for the sacrifices of the American military and citizens, but now is not the time to leave. With the right support, Iraq could be stable, safe and a great ally to the United States, Samawi said, but without help, he questioned the last seven years' toil.
"I think the United States doesn't win anything, they just lost," he said. "They just spent a lot and lost a lot to remove Sadaam Hussein and that was not worth it, I think, to give all these sacrifices for just one person."
