Ramadi, Iraq – American troops in one of the most dangerous corners of Iraq are skeptical they’ll be leaving any time soon, despite a new U.S. defense chief and a bipartisan commission urging a new war strategy.
The soldiers from Company C, 1st Battalion, 37th Armored Regiment welcomed the plans for change, but questioned the high-level U.S. panel’s recommendation Wednesday that most combat troops leave Iraq by early 2008.
“There’s no way we’re leaving in two years no matter what any recommendation says,” said Spec. Eisenhower Atuatasi, 26, of Westminster, Calif. He thought 2012 was more realistic.
Sgt. Christopher Wiacik, 28, of Lavonia, Mich., also was pessimistic. “It’s just a study group. It’s not really going to affect the president. I don’t see any major changes happening until presidential elections start. I think both sides will promise to get troops out and give timelines then, but not before.”
The U.S. troops, based in the Sunni insurgent stronghold of Ramadi, are still reeling from learning two months ago that their tour was being extended until at least February.
“We’ve been here for 12 months now and there’s been no progress,” said Spec. Richard Johnson, 20, of Bridgeport, Conn., as he manned a machine gun on the rooftop of an outpost ringed by a shallow moat of sewage.
Fort Carson soldiers who have served in the war expressed similar pessimism. “I don’t see us leaving by 2008,” said Richard Marte, 29, of Brooklyn, N.Y., of the 10th Special Forces. He has served one tour in Iraq and will likely begin another next year.
Marte is one of at least 30,000 Fort Carson troops deployed to Iraq since the start of war.
“As far as pulling soldiers out, that would mean that almost 3,000 soldiers died for no reason. If we pull out, we’ll lose the whole country,” Marte said. “We would have spent billions for no reason. It would be worse than when Saddam (Hussein) was in power because at least then there were some rules and ordinances.”
In Iraq, 1st Lt. Gerard Dow said he agreed with the Iraq Study Group’s assessment that the situation in Iraq was “grave and disappointing.”
“In Iraq, we try to win the hearts and minds of population,” said Dow, 32, of Chicago. “They want Americans out of here. They blame us for all their problems. They look at us as the terrorists and then they turn around and help the terrorists who are trying to kill us.”
Dow trained Iraqi soldiers in Ramadi and in the north during his first assignment in Iraq, and he doubts U.S. forces will be able to hand over the fighting by early next year as the commission recommends. “The Iraqi army is getting there,” he said. “But they are still not where they need to be and I doubt they will be by then.”
