Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
In the initial days of the invasion into Baghdad, we passed the Iraq/Iran war
memorial
while surveying what would later become the Green Zone. This very iconic memorial,
with two big crossed sabers and soldiers helmets
embedded in a sculpture, was being protected by a sole local man
with a shotgun. I knew if we were going to occupy this area
and if we were going to do any work in this area at all, we needed to help
secure this monument.
It was obviously very important to the community. By helping protect things that
are important to the Iraqi people, then
they may support us in the future; or at the very least
not feel a hatred that drives an individual to become part of a tier three
counterinsurgency effort against us.
So we provided concertina wire, we left them there with some rations and their
shotguns,
and later we parked a tank nearby.