Home » Archives » "Progress in Iraq?"

Progress in Iraq?

Mar-15-2004 » Filed Under: 3/2 SBCT

[Link to Full Article]
"Depends on whom you ask"
By Kevin Dougherty, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Sunday, March 14, 2004

The exhausted 1st Armored Division soldier leaned against a concrete barrier. The bomb scare was over, and he was collecting himself. Iraq has forever changed him, he lamented. [...]

With the first anniversary of the conflict’s launch just days away, most “major combat operations” have ceased, but a low-intensity guerrilla war continues with no distinguishable end in sight. Much has been accomplished, and much remains to be done on the road to democracy.

As Army Capt. Heath McCormick of the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division in Mosul puts it: “This is a marathon.” [...]

“The biggest issue we have in this area, when we talk to local officials, is jobs,” said U.S. Army Maj. David “Gregg” Athey, executive officer for the 1st Battalion, 14th Cavalry Regiment out of Fort Lewis, Wash. Athey and his unit are based in Tall ’Afar, in far northwestern Iraq. “That’s what will lead us back to security.”


Advertisements