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2005-08-14 Home Front: WoT
General Barry R. McCaffrey's Trip Report to Senate
MEMORANDUM FOR: SENATE FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE
Subject: Trip Report - Kuwait and Iraq - Saturday, 4 June through Saturday, 11 June 2005
1. PURPOSE: This memo provides feedback reference visit 4-11 June 2005 by General Barry R. McCaffrey, USA (Ret.) to Kuwait and Iraq. (the numbers give a clue to how much was snipped. Sorry, I've lost the site to make a hat-tip, but it started as an e-mail for a retired Army friend.)

3. THE BOTTOM LINE---Observations from Operation Iraqi Freedom: June 2005:
1st - US Military Forces in Iraq are superb. Our Army-Marine ground combat units with supporting Air and Naval Power are characterized by quality military leadership, solid discipline, high morale, and enormous individual and unit courage. Unit effectiveness is as good as we can get. This is the most competent and battle wise force in our nation's history. They are also beautifully cared for by the chain-of-command -- and they know it. (Food, A/C sleeping areas, medical care, mental health care, home leave, phone/e-mail contact with families, personal equipment, individual and unit training, targeted economic incentives in the battle area, visibility of tactical leadership, home station care for their families, access to news information, etc).

3rd - The Iraqi Security Forces are now a real and hugely significant factor. LTG Dave Petreaus has done a brilliant job with his supporting trainers.

169,000 Army and Police exist in various stages of readiness. They have uniforms, automatic weapons, body armor, some radios, some armor, light trucks, and battalion-level organization. At least 60,000 are courageous Patriots who are actively fighting. By next summer--250,000 Iraqi troops and 10 division HQS will be the dominant security factor in Iraq.

4. Top CENTCOM Vulnerabilities:
1st - Premature drawdown of U.S. ground forces driven by dwindling U.S. domestic political support and the progressive deterioration of Army and Marine manpower. (In particular, the expected melt-down of the Army National Guard and Army Reserve in the coming 36 months)
2nd - Alienation of the U.S. Congress or the American people caused by Iraqi public ingratitude and corruption. Not to mention the MSM!
3rd - Political ineptitude of Shia civil leadership that freezes out the Sunnis and creates a civil war during our drawdown.
4th - "The other shoe" - a war with North Korea, Venezuela, Syria, Iran, or Cuba that draws away U.S. military forces and political energy.

6. Coalition Public Diplomacy Policy is a disaster:

1st - The US media is putting the second team in Iraq with some exceptions. Unfortunately, the situation is extremely dangerous for journalists. The working conditions for a reporter are terrible. They cannot travel independently of US military forces without risking abduction or death. In some cases, the press has degraded to reporting based on secondary sources, press briefings which they do not believe, and alarmist video of the aftermath of suicide bombings obtained from Iraqi employees of unknown reliability.

2nd - Our unbelievably competent, articulate, objective, and courageous Battalion, Brigade, and Division Commanders are not on TV. These commanders represent an Army-Marine Corps which is rated as the most trusted institution in America by every poll.
3rd - We are not aggressively providing support (transportation, security, food, return of film to an upload site, etc) to reporters to allow them to follow the course of the war.
4th - Military leaders on the ground are talking to people they trust instead of talking to all reporters who command the attention of the American people. (We need to educate and support AP, Reuters, Gannet, Hearst, the Washington Post, the New York Times, etc.)

7. SUMMARY:
a.. This is the darkness before dawn in the efforts to construct a viable Iraqi state. The enterprise was badly launched --but we are now well organized and beginning to develop successful momentum. The future outcomes are largely a function of the degree to which Iraqi men and women will overcome fear and step forward to seize the leadership opportunity to create a new future.
b.. We face some very difficult days in the coming 2-5 years. In my judgment, if we retain the support of the American people --we can achieve our objectives of creating a law-based Iraqi state which will be an influencing example on the entire region.
c.. A successful outcome would potentially usher in a very dramatically changed environment throughout the Middle East and signal in this region the end of an era of incompetent and corrupt government which fosters frustration and violence on the part of much of the population.
d.. It was an honor and a very encouraging experience to visit CENTCOM Forces in Iraq and Kuwait and see the progress achieved by the bravery and dedication of our military forces.

Posted by Bobby 2005-08-14 14:36|| || Front Page|| [1 views since 2007-05-07]  Top

#1 This sounds like somebodys wishful thinking.
Posted by Shipman 2005-08-14 17:50||   2005-08-14 17:50|| Front Page Top

#2 In other woids... fake.
Posted by Shipman 2005-08-14 17:51||   2005-08-14 17:51|| Front Page Top

#3 Bobby, here's a link to McCaffrey's full report and it may also be the site you had in mind.
Note that this link also includes items 2 and 5 missing from the General's report posted above.
Posted by GK 2005-08-14 17:51||   2005-08-14 17:51|| Front Page Top

#4 Yea! I was wrong!
Posted by Shipman 2005-08-14 17:52||   2005-08-14 17:52|| Front Page Top

#5 There's also a link to McCaffrey's memo, with his letter head, on the Senate Foreign Relations website http://www.foreign.senate.gov/testimony/2005/McCaffreyTestimony050718.pdf
Posted by GK 2005-08-14 18:00||   2005-08-14 18:00|| Front Page Top

#6 GK - I beleive you are correct, on both counts!
Posted by Bobby 2005-08-14 21:56||   2005-08-14 21:56|| Front Page Top










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