ARTICLE: “Midlevel Officers Show Enterprise, Helping U.S. Reduce Violence in Iraq.” By GREG JAFFE.
Wall Street Journal, V. CCL, N. 152, P. A-1, Saturday/Sunday 29-30 December 2007.

This was a nice article on the ability of US military Officers to adapt and implement change, even when it involves bean counters. The article discusses how the officers sought to separate the Sunnis and Shiites to reduce the fighting between them. That is something you do in a fight so it only seems right to do that in Iraq now. Sure, the time will come when the two groups will have to live and work together but let’s keep them apart until they can learn to get along a wee bit better. Of course the officers also set about getting the place functioning again. Opening banks, turning on water, and getting electricity to flow are major factors in establishing peace. This is exactly what I’ve heard from my friends who have been over there. They say the Iraqis are very appreciative when you get them drinking water and get the sewage flowing in the right direction.

But the key to this article is that the officers recognized the need to reach out to the local power brokers and get them involved in the solution. Discussed specifically is a PowerPoint presentation made by Captain Travis Patriquin, 32 at the time, and later killed by a roadside bomb in the Fall of 2006. His PowerPoint slide was simple but effective. It was a stick figure of a soldier sharing tea with a sheik. The caption read, “This is one sheik. They’ve been leading the people of this area for approximately 14,000 years. In spite of many, many conquering armies trying to remove him, this man and his family have been involved in politics here since recorded time began.” Hmmm, makes sense to work with these people, you think?

These officers understand that you need to understand the culture you working in and people you are working with. It is not a matter of who is right and who is wrong, as many people try argue, it is a matter of working together. And yes, the sheiks need to understand us as well so they can work better with us. As I watch the news I seem to see two types of people. On the one side are those Rosie O’Donnell types who are convinced that we are evil incarnate and deserve the attacks of 9/11. On the other side are the ill-informed who believe the Iraqis and Afghanis should be so happy that we are helping them that they simply roll over and do as we say. Fortunately our military officers are able to recognize the truth lies between these two extremes. They realize that it is fine to recognize and work within a culture without having to accept that culture as their own.