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Nathan Ritzo: 'Taji Awakening' proof the surge is helping Iraqis
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By NATHAN RITZO
Monday, Oct. 29, 2007
The best thing about my job on the Baghdad Provincial Reconstruction Team is seeing ideas become reality and make a positive impact. It's rewarding to visit places that have benefited from the ideas and hard work of American service members and civilians in Iraq and to see Iraqis adapt to their situation the Americans' example of dedication to national unity against the forces of terrorism and tyranny.
The reconciliation of Sunnis and Shi'ites across Iraq in a national movement to reject al-Qaeda is an example of this and was made possible by the troop surge. The reconciliation movement is evident in an area north of Baghdad called Taji. Tom Burke, the team leader for the Taji Embedded Provincial Reconstruction Team, or EPRT, calls this reconciliation the "Taji Awakening."
"(The Taji Awakening) involves all the sheiks (in Taji), both Sunni and Shi'a. Over the period of four weeks now, it has gathered momentum," Burke said. "The movement here has become dynamic."
He said that the largest gathering of Sunni and Shi'a sheiks in Iraq occurred on Aug. 20 in the Taji area and that the terrorist forces in the area are now "on the run" because of the sectarian reconciliation. As a result, the overall quality of life in rural North Baghdad Province has improved, with marketplaces "flourishing" and critical infrastructure needs being met, according to Burke.
Col. Mike Bridges, who heads up the governance section of the EPRT, concurs with Burke that progress has been made, but specifies that the reconciliation starts at the local level. "It really did start with our brigade commander's philosophy in engaging the senior tribal sheiks," said Bridges. He added that the brigade commander tired of his soldiers getting hurt and of good local people being terrorized when they tried to make changes in their community. The changes in Taji began with a simple outreach program using fliers to promote the idea of Iraqi national unity against terrorism with the support of Americans.
Col. Bridges said that the sheiks realized this year that they really were neighbors who have lived together for a very long time. They are now using their traditional roles to bring about the sectarian reconciliation.
"It's been building momentum," he said. "More and more of them are saying 'Hmm. (Al-Qaeda in Iraq) is just a few guys. This is our home.' They're coming together and are looking for some kind of means to make this legitimate. The first (reconciliation meeting) I went to was only a dozen sheiks. The next one was 120. I didn't go to the next one, but our boss, Mr. Burke, did, and there were 1,000 Sunni and Shi'a tribal leaders together under one tent. Their family members were wearing T-shirts that said 'One Iraq, Stop Sectarianism, Stop the Violence.'"
Col. Bridges finished by saying that the troop surge is essential to the reconciliation of the Iraqi Sunni and Shi'a communities. According to Bridges, before the surge, soldiers would visit communities and then leave, whereas now they are embedded in the communities, empowering them to fight terrorism in Iraq.
"The surge has only been really in effect for two months," Bridges says. "It took all that time in the spring to get all the surge troops on the ground. They had to get oriented to the communities and neighborhoods that they were operating in. You have to give them time to affect the surge."
"In that two months that they've been able to operate, the security situation has changed dramatically, the reconciliation (has begun). Well, gee. Wouldn't it be better if they had six months, a year to operate at that level? Think of the difference," says Bridges. "I believe (the Iraqis) mean it. I see it in their eyes, I hear it in their voices, I feel it when I see them when they come and say, 'Thank you. We needed this opportunity.'"
Nathan Ritzo is a native of Portsmouth. He is serving his second tour in Iraq with the U.S. Army and is writing this column to share his thoughts and perspectives on Operation Iraqi Freedom. He is a Reservist attached to the 478th Civil Affairs Battalion, out of Miami, Fla. His e-mail is Nathan.Ritzo@gmail.com.
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YOUR COMMENTS
I detect plenty of factual context, dates, names, numbers and such, in Sgt. Ritzo's article.
However, Mr. Portman's comment below lacks any at all. It contains nothing but ad hominen attacks, straw man assumptions, and the indignation of an obsessive grammarian bereft of the intellectual heft to comment cogently upon international affairs.
In fact, his comments read much like the bland, generic, template-like, know-nothing howls of smug self-righteous indignation that one can find on any of the Soros-ista funded echo-chamber blogs.
Thank you, Sgt, Ritzo, for sharing some real on-the-ground facts about Iraq with the American people.
- Kerry Mc, Bloomington, IN
Portman,
While you criticize Ritzo for not showing any facts, I notice that you too don't have anything to show except rhetoric. So this arguement becomes a decision of whose word I trust more, a battalion commander in Iraq, or a commentator in Portsmith. Who do you think is more reliable on the subject of Iraq?
- Pantera, Signal Mountain TN
Allen, your post is a sickening as it is wrong on all counts. Ritzo's account gels with scores of independent reporting done by people like Michael Yon and Michael Trotten.
If you disagree, perhaps you could offer your perspective. Go to 543 Central Ave. in Dover, go up to the second floor and enlist.
After you've gone through Ritzo's first hand experience, you'll be well situated to call BS.
- Chad, Santa Barbara, CA
I've been to Taji several times over the last few years. It was apparent to me that the average Iraqi just wanted to get on with their lives. They had no liking for the proposed worldwide caliphate, nor did they consider themselves to be a part of that effort. The brutality of the al Queda members, all non-Iraqi, in the Taji region was legion. It ended up being too much for the locals, and now the sheiks are taking back their traditional role of leader. Good for them, good for Iraq.
- Diggs, Colorado Springs, CO
How sad!
A soldier decides to give his view from Iraq, and for political reasons alone, he is attacks as a propagandist and sycophant.
Sad... just sad.
- Kevin Burnett, Wichita, KS
Mr. Portman, you wrote Mr. Ritzo included "no facts" in his article. However, Mr Ritzo wrote, "The first (reconciliation meeting) I went to was only a dozen sheiks. The next one was 120." Those sure look like facts to me. You seem to hold Mr Ritzo's writing to a higher standard than your own, and it blunts your effectiveness. Try to keep the sweeping generalizations out of your invectives next time.
- Jeff Walters, Banderas, Texas
Hey Portman,
How many tours did you serve in Iraq? To profane someone actually close to the action in Iraq while you criticize from afar...now that's naive. You hate too much to look at the surge with any objectivity, that much is obvious from the wording in your post.
Great article!
- Kevin Ridge, Weatherford
The only hubris on display here is in the fact that a putative intellectual sitting comfortably by his fireplace in Portsmouth is somehow closer to the truth than a soldier who walks the streets of Taji.
It seems that the last recourse of the left is to attack one's intellect, with the self assured arrogance that they are, in fact, smarter than you, and that should you only follow their lead like the innocent child they believe you to be, you will finally be enlighted.
However, pity the man who declines to swallow the party line. They will eat you alive like canibals at a beach party. Just ask Lieberman.
And thank you for your service, SGT Ritzo.
- Rob Merchant, Washington, DC
Again and again someone has something positive to say about the results of the surge and its from someone who is currently serving in Iraq. I expect about 100 editorials from liberal Democrats who has never stepped one foot on Iraqi soil but have somehow managed to become experts; disaproving this article, so be prepared. Thank you Nate.
- Phil Pennington, Abingdon, Virginia
Naive lies & bs! Iraq is the single worst foreign policy blunder in over 100 years, the damage to US security is immense and ongoing, the cost in dollars that could be saving lives here is criminal.
Ritzo ought to learn English grammar before he tries to pass this kind of tripe to the public, his prose is atrocious; no facts, no ideas, just inelegant propaganda. Wake up Ritzo, you are so far from the truth it is stunning.
- Allen Portman, Portsmouth
Great article; The article could indicate that we should have just looked to the town hall system of N Hampshire as a model way back in 03 instead of trying to create an all powerful central gov't. Kudos to the PRTs and Brigade Commanders for recognizing the reality on the ground. Now we can only hope that this progress feeds into the review of institutional structures that has been mooted.
- WPryor, Chicago, IL
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