Soldiers' Doubts Build as Duties Shift
For Many, Prolonged Stay and New Threat Have Eroded Early Optimism
By Daniel Williams
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, May 25, 2004; Page A11
KARBALA, Iraq -- When the Army's 1st Armored Division arrived in Iraq 13 months ago, its job was to close out Iraq's past by wiping out remnants of former president Saddam Hussein's armed base of support. Now several of its units are confronting a new threat, Moqtada Sadr, a Shiite cleric who is leading an armed revolt in defiance of U.S. plans to sideline him in a new Iraq.
This shift in responsibility is hitting hard at soldiers who moved into this area south of Baghdad last Wednesday for a short mission to fight Sadr's militia. In the view of many troops in Company A of the division's Task Force 1-36, the old battle, though filled with hardship, was imbued with the optimism of liberation. The new one is tinted by pessimism. Soldiers feel themselves mired in an effort to navigate the indecipherable intricacies of Iraqi politics.
"I just think it's a lost cause," said Spec. Will Bromley, a gunner who sits inside the turret of a Bradley Fighting Vehicle and mans a 25mm cannon whose rounds can blast walls to pieces. "This has become harder than we thought. Getting rid of Saddam Hussein, that's one thing. Getting Iraqis to do what we want is another. It's like we want to give them McDonald's and they might not want McDonald's. They have to want it or we can't give it to them."
Sgt. Jerry Sapiens, a specialist in nuclear, biological and chemical warfare, suggested there was no end in sight. "We're in the baby-sitting phase and my question is, how long can we baby-sit for the Iraqis? We want the Iraqis to change, to be like us, and to do this we will have to be here forever."
"The enemy is not the same as before," said Spec. Matthew Aissen, a medic. "I fear that people who use religion as a power point are taking over the place. It's a power struggle. Our weak point is they think we are evil and we're not so popular, so we become part of the mess."
The 1st Armored Division was supposed to be out of the powdery sand, 100-degree heat and explosive danger of Iraq a month ago. After a year in the country, they were scheduled to be back in green and placid Germany, their home base.
During its tour, Company A has seen all sides of the post-invasion phase of the Iraqi conflict. It was originally tasked to safeguard Baghdad neighborhoods, fight insurgents and crime, uncover arms depots, defuse roadside bombs and oversee reconstruction projects.
Duty in Iraq was scheduled to end in April, but in a surprise decision, the Pentagon ordered the 1st Armored Division to stay on for another three months. The disappointment was evident among many of the soldiers here, and has sharpened their doubts.
Capt. Andrew Lomax, Company A's executive officer, was scheduled not only to return to Germany, but also to end his Army service. He now worries that when he enters his post-service period as a member of the Army Reserve, he could be called back to active duty at any time. "Some of us need to make life plans. We're obviously short of forces in Iraq. Suppose the country just wants to split apart? Can we live with that? Or another dictator comes? Are we going to fix that? There are plenty of troublemakers and Iraqis who tolerate them. You could have units here forever," he said.
The soldiers have been told that Sadr and his Mahdi Army represent only a small fraction of Iraq's Shiite Muslim majority. Yet ripping Sadr posters off the walls of villages in the south is proving at least as daunting a task as tearing down the once-ubiquitous portraits of Hussein.
Some soldiers are convinced that political considerations might undermine tactical needs. For instance, Task Force 1-36 came to Karbala to invade the center of the city and drive out Sadr's militia. That complex operation was cancelled, but during the planning, commanders were told to limit the kind of munitions fired at either the Abbas or Hussein shrines in Karbala, the city's gold-topped Shiite mosques.
If someone was spotted shooting from the mosques, soldiers were to return fire with nothing larger than 7.62mm bullets, machine-gun ammunition.
Commanders fear that damaging the shrines would inflame Shiite public opinion and bolster support for Sadr. Lt. Col. Charles Sexton, commander of the 1st Battalion, 36th Infantry Regiment, explained that it was "doctrinally correct" to declare specific "no-fire areas." He noted, however, that nothing would preclude a soldier's "right of self-defense" even if it meant using a high-powered weapon.
To Sgt. Maj. Robert Cormier, such decisions could complicate the soldiers' response to danger. "We definitely have political constraints. We have to watch that very closely," he said.
CONTINUED
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