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| I remember Mosul, but Iraq 3.0 is what happens when you exit a war early | I remember Mosul, but Iraq 3.0 is what happens when you exit a war early |
| (6 days later) | |
| Only the dead have seen the end of war. –Plato | Only the dead have seen the end of war. –Plato |
| Tuesday 10 June 2013, Starbucks, Los Angeles | Tuesday 10 June 2013, Starbucks, Los Angeles |
| An ominous Facebook message: So what do u think? | An ominous Facebook message: So what do u think? |
| I asked myself: is this person drunk? | I asked myself: is this person drunk? |
| Think about what? | Think about what? |
| Minutes passed. | Minutes passed. |
| My friend answered: Mosul. | My friend answered: Mosul. |
| I have many fond memories of my time there in 2003 and 2004 – getting shot at sometimes while going out on three or four combat operations a day, watching every last vehicle in our platoon get blasted by an IED or RPG (or both) – but the truth is I don't think about Mosul, my alma mater in Iraq. Maybe I should, but I don't. | I have many fond memories of my time there in 2003 and 2004 – getting shot at sometimes while going out on three or four combat operations a day, watching every last vehicle in our platoon get blasted by an IED or RPG (or both) – but the truth is I don't think about Mosul, my alma mater in Iraq. Maybe I should, but I don't. |
| I hadn't heard the news, of course – and it was getting worse, as the Isis insurgents completely take over Iraq all over again – but the truth was I knew in my gut: that city, with its crime and murder rates, was never meant to hold forever. It was the ideal place for a soldier who wanted to spend his deployment living in hell, which it was. I used to say, if Baghdad is to Iraq what New York City is to the United States, then Mosul is even more of a shithole than Detroit. | I hadn't heard the news, of course – and it was getting worse, as the Isis insurgents completely take over Iraq all over again – but the truth was I knew in my gut: that city, with its crime and murder rates, was never meant to hold forever. It was the ideal place for a soldier who wanted to spend his deployment living in hell, which it was. I used to say, if Baghdad is to Iraq what New York City is to the United States, then Mosul is even more of a shithole than Detroit. |
| Reports about it "falling", my friend wrote. | Reports about it "falling", my friend wrote. |
| Pissed off that it was taking me forever to get my cup of coffee, I responded: That's "news"? People are surprised? Really? | Pissed off that it was taking me forever to get my cup of coffee, I responded: That's "news"? People are surprised? Really? |
| We had lost the war. Of course Mosul had fallen, and of course Tikrit and maybe even Baghdad were on the way. I'm no general or military strategist, but I'm pretty sure that's what happens when you exit early, when you leave without finishing a job: the shithole gets shittier, and hell comes back. | We had lost the war. Of course Mosul had fallen, and of course Tikrit and maybe even Baghdad were on the way. I'm no general or military strategist, but I'm pretty sure that's what happens when you exit early, when you leave without finishing a job: the shithole gets shittier, and hell comes back. |
| I thought about why my friend cared what I thought. I thought about what the 4,487 soldiers killed in action would think about this week. Sadly, we'll never know. Maybe that's a good thing. Maybe they wouldn't want to see that this is what the end of the Iraq war looks like – like the middle of it, all over again – but very few soldiers would be surprised. | I thought about why my friend cared what I thought. I thought about what the 4,487 soldiers killed in action would think about this week. Sadly, we'll never know. Maybe that's a good thing. Maybe they wouldn't want to see that this is what the end of the Iraq war looks like – like the middle of it, all over again – but very few soldiers would be surprised. |
| I did a lot of reading between missions while in Mosul, and one book I vividly remember reading was On War, by Carl Von Clausewitz. I carried a highlighter with me, and one passage I marked was this: | I did a lot of reading between missions while in Mosul, and one book I vividly remember reading was On War, by Carl Von Clausewitz. I carried a highlighter with me, and one passage I marked was this: |
| We may occupy a country completely, but hostilities can be renewed again in the interior, or perhaps with allied help. This, of course, can also happen after the peace treaty, but this only shows that not every war necessarily leads to a final decision and settlement. | We may occupy a country completely, but hostilities can be renewed again in the interior, or perhaps with allied help. This, of course, can also happen after the peace treaty, but this only shows that not every war necessarily leads to a final decision and settlement. |
| Americans and Brits might not have the stomach for a prolonged war – even though we're still in Afghanistan – but if you want to know what Afghanistan is going to look like when we leave (during an election year, no less), then look to Mosul. Look at the fallen city. | Americans and Brits might not have the stomach for a prolonged war – even though we're still in Afghanistan – but if you want to know what Afghanistan is going to look like when we leave (during an election year, no less), then look to Mosul. Look at the fallen city. |
| Monday 20 October 2003, Joint Base Lewis McChord, Washington state | Monday 20 October 2003, Joint Base Lewis McChord, Washington state |
| A pre-deployment briefing, to provide my entire infantry unit – a couple hundred infantrymen seated in a room in at Carey Theatre – answers to the question: What is your mission? | A pre-deployment briefing, to provide my entire infantry unit – a couple hundred infantrymen seated in a room in at Carey Theatre – answers to the question: What is your mission? |
| The answers – at least the answers we were to give embedded journalists – were as follows: | The answers – at least the answers we were to give embedded journalists – were as follows: |
| Nobody laughed out loud. | Nobody laughed out loud. |
| When you go to war, the military makes sure – or tries to make sure – that it's providing you everything that you need to complete the objective: brand-new desert boots, battle-dress cammo uniforms, more ammunition than you would ever need. | When you go to war, the military makes sure – or tries to make sure – that it's providing you everything that you need to complete the objective: brand-new desert boots, battle-dress cammo uniforms, more ammunition than you would ever need. |
| You are told that the objective is – or should be – to win the war. But we were never given specific instructions about what needed to be done to win the war – about what it would take for us all to go home – other than to stabilize the country for the Iraqi people, to win hearts and minds while killing as many "non-compliant forces" as possible. | You are told that the objective is – or should be – to win the war. But we were never given specific instructions about what needed to be done to win the war – about what it would take for us all to go home – other than to stabilize the country for the Iraqi people, to win hearts and minds while killing as many "non-compliant forces" as possible. |
| We were taught to kill. This was our job – what we were paid and sent by the American people to do. It was a job we did well. | We were taught to kill. This was our job – what we were paid and sent by the American people to do. It was a job we did well. |
| Sometime in 1992, San Ramon, California | Sometime in 1992, San Ramon, California |
| A little kid at the dinner table. Me: Dad, why did we lose the Vietnam war? | A little kid at the dinner table. Me: Dad, why did we lose the Vietnam war? |
| My father, the Vietnam vet, stopped eating and eyed me with suspicion bordering on anger: Who told you that? | My father, the Vietnam vet, stopped eating and eyed me with suspicion bordering on anger: Who told you that? |
| I froze, and he furrowed his brow and went on: Did your teacher tell you this? | I froze, and he furrowed his brow and went on: Did your teacher tell you this? |
| I nodded: Yes. | I nodded: Yes. |
| He growled something inaudible, and went off on some rant about Berkeley and liberals and explained to me that we didn't lose the Vietnam war – that the US never loses any major offensive. | He growled something inaudible, and went off on some rant about Berkeley and liberals and explained to me that we didn't lose the Vietnam war – that the US never loses any major offensive. |
| And then my father said something to me that I'll never forget: You know, a lot of good Americans died in that war. | And then my father said something to me that I'll never forget: You know, a lot of good Americans died in that war. |
| Period. | Period. |
| After that, the discussion about Vietnam was over. | After that, the discussion about Vietnam was over. |
| Monday 31 May 2004, Forward Operating Base Marez, Mosul, Iraq | Monday 31 May 2004, Forward Operating Base Marez, Mosul, Iraq |
| Talking points. About a "transition to sovereignty". Those were as follows: | Talking points. About a "transition to sovereignty". Those were as follows: |
| WHAT WILL HAPPEN: | WHAT WILL HAPPEN: |
| WHAT WON'T HAPPEN? | WHAT WON'T HAPPEN? |
| Again, nobody laughed – not out loud, at least. And nobody laughed afterward, when it became the deadliest year of the Iraq war, by almost double – including an attack on our base, four days before Christmas, that killed 14 soldiers, plus four contractors and four of the Iraqi soldiers we were supposed to be training. | Again, nobody laughed – not out loud, at least. And nobody laughed afterward, when it became the deadliest year of the Iraq war, by almost double – including an attack on our base, four days before Christmas, that killed 14 soldiers, plus four contractors and four of the Iraqi soldiers we were supposed to be training. |
| In the dining hall. | In the dining hall. |
| After the surge of 2007, a final decision, the record would be broken again. A lot of good Americans died that year. | After the surge of 2007, a final decision, the record would be broken again. A lot of good Americans died that year. |
| We talked a lot, we soldiers, out there on those three or four combat operations a day, about how it was all going to go to hell anyway, once we pulled out. | We talked a lot, we soldiers, out there on those three or four combat operations a day, about how it was all going to go to hell anyway, once we pulled out. |
| That was over 10 years and a week ago. A week ago it hadn't gone to hell and back. The discussion, it seemed, wasn't over. Then: Mosul again. | That was over 10 years and a week ago. A week ago it hadn't gone to hell and back. The discussion, it seemed, wasn't over. Then: Mosul again. |
| Sometime in the 2020s, San Francisco | Sometime in the 2020s, San Francisco |
| One day my son is going to ask me at the dinner table: Daddy, why did we lose the Iraq war? | One day my son is going to ask me at the dinner table: Daddy, why did we lose the Iraq war? |
| I won't ask him if his teacher put him up to it, because 10 years from now, it will probably be common knowledge that, yes, we did lose the Iraq war. Everybody – teachers and historians, liberals and conservatives – will agree. | I won't ask him if his teacher put him up to it, because 10 years from now, it will probably be common knowledge that, yes, we did lose the Iraq war. Everybody – teachers and historians, liberals and conservatives – will agree. |
| I have years to prepare an answer for my son. Right now, this is what I think: We were winning when I was there. We were winning when we were there. | I have years to prepare an answer for my son. Right now, this is what I think: We were winning when I was there. We were winning when we were there. |
| That's about all I can say. We lost. | That's about all I can say. We lost. |
| Of course, I could also say the same same thing my father thought about his alma mater: A lot of good Americans died in the war. | Of course, I could also say the same same thing my father thought about his alma mater: A lot of good Americans died in the war. |
| Period. End of discussion. | Period. End of discussion. |
| What else can you say? | What else can you say? |
| • From another veteran on Guardian US opinion today: Iraq veterans – learn to stop worrying about Isis and love life at home already | By Alex Horton | • From another veteran on Guardian US opinion today: Iraq veterans – learn to stop worrying about Isis and love life at home already | By Alex Horton |