Taliban - U.S. Info War

“Our goal with radio is to reach the locals and inform them about what’s going on,” Thomas Castillo, Moriarty High graduate, explained during a phone interview from Afghanistan on Sunday.
Castillo said what he does isn’t necessarily part of a psychological operation, but more of an information program designed to help out the locals.
“There is an election coming up in the province,” Castillo said. “We’re broadcasting messages telling them where they can vote.”
Castillo is an information technology specialist in the Army, where he spends his days keeping the network up which carries Army radio broadcasts to locals.
Castillo said the broadcasts aren’t just for propaganda, but admitted they do serve as a counter measure to the information released by the Taliban.
He said Pfc. Bowe Bergdahl, an American soldier who is currently being held hostage by the Taliban, is from his brigade. He said he is aware of the recently released Taliban video showing the captured American, but said he hasn’t watched it.
“They don’t let us look at anything like that. They shun us away from it,” he said.
In the video Bergdahl is questioned in English. The interrogator asks Bergdahl if the U.S. government informs the public that the U.S. military is working with warlords accused of violating human rights.
“No our government does not inform us of any of these details. They don’t tell us any of that specific information,” Bergdahl says in the video.
Castillo said leaflets are being dropped by the U.S. asking people to help locate the hostage. He did not say if radio broadcasts were being used to try and locate him as well.
“If we do have to put out an IO message,” Castillo said, “we put out the IO message, and after that we consult with the locals in the region to figure out the best way to handle it. And we pretty much go from there.”
Castillo said he isn’t “specifically going out to spend time with individuals that hear the messages.”
Most of the interaction, he said, is done by the Provincial Reconstruction Team, which also works on providing humanitarian assistance in the area.
Castillo said “it’s just as easy for them [Afghans] as anybody else” to have access to information, as long as they can afford it.
“They listen to BBC more than any local stations,” Castillo said.
In a 2005 School of Advanced Military Studies report by Maj. Peter Sicoli it states that two of the five “significant challenges that negatively affected the Army’s IO plan in post-hostility Iraq” was proliferation of news sources and use of the media.
In Afghanistan the situation may be different, but the Taliban hostage video confirms that there is an information war going inside (and outside) the country, which Castillo is also partaking in by maintaining the equipment that disseminates the information.
A typical work day for Castillo begins at 9 a.m. After arriving at work Castillo checks to see if anything is wrong on the network. When there are no problems people will occasionally ask questions about things like programming errors. Castillo is out of the office by 9 or 10 p.m. and will then do laundry, watch a movie or play X-Box.
“Our local area is pretty secure,” Castillo said. “We don’t really receive any incoming [fire].”
He said another nearby forward operating base where the Afghan army and police are trained gets hit frequently. Castillo thinks the targeting may be selective.
“If I had to say anything I think it’s because the fact that the teams here, aside from us and COD teams, are mainly reconstruction teams that go out and help the locals.”
He said that about 30 minutes away “you have IEDs and you have small arms fire. It’s all depending on your area.”
Castillo said the country has a long of history of war, but progress is being made to create a lasting peace.
He said it is important to eradicate corruption in the political and legal system and thinks those that are actually fighting in the country are a small group.
“That small group will phase out and die off and we’ll have people in the cities more accustomed to living in a peaceful manner,” Castillo said. “That’s going to take a while to develop.”He said all the U.S. can do is push the country in the right direction, but it is up to the people to decide if they are willing to go in that direction.
Castillo advises that Americans “stop reading into the media and grab a couple books about people who have been out here and read about what they’ve been through.”
He said he is proud of his brother and sisters and misses his friends and New Mexican food.
“Tell everybody that I love them,” he said.

Help Needed for Letters Home Project

From the N.M. Dept. of Veterans' Services - Since 2005, Sarah Coca has coordinated over 612,000 packages of blank cards, stationery and other appropriate writing material for U.S. troops worldwide to use so that they can write to their families back home.Coca has been working on the Letters Home Project for quite some time, but she recently has had trouble keeping up with the demands of the project because of the current economic situation.

Now, she’d like a little help to keep the project going.

“I really have a desperate need for supplies like cards, stationery, postcards, paper, stickers, envelopes, and ballpoint pens and pencils that are not of an offensive nature,” said Coca. “I think it’s very important that our soldiers be able to keep in touch with their families back home. When I first started, I was able to get donated materials and I would do all of the labor to prepare them for shipping. Now I’ve run out.”

Sarah Coca can be reached at (505) 803-7940 or lettershomeproject@yahoo.com

Psychological-cyber Warfare

U.S. condemns video of missing soldier South Asia Reuters: "KABUL (Reuters) - The U.S. military on Sunday denounced the release of a video showing a soldier captured in Afghanistan, saying the images were Taliban propaganda that violated international law."

I tried tracking down the Taliban video on Google and You Tube, but was unable to find it. With the military denouncing it and calling it illegal propaganda we must wonder if the U.S. government hasn't purposely made the hostage video unaccessible as part of their efforts to engage in psycho-cyber warfare.
Psychological warfare has become an integral part of fighting al Qaeda and the Taliban and the hostage video shows that the Taliban are fully aware of the ability to influence the war through anti-American propaganda. The reprecussions of the psychological war has not been fully examined.
Americans have become fearful and reactionary to domestic media blitzes and foreign propaganda alike. The hands spinning the wheels behind the media machine aren't always easy to follow and I regret to say it makes me doubtful of the sincerity of all who attempt to control human behavior through psychological warfare.
There are those who engage in it unknowingly and there are those who control the main puppet strings, and it is the latter we should be trying to understand so we can determine which direction we are being led.
The continuation of psychological warfare in the war on terror will undoubtedly effect world politics and will ultimately be the deciding factor in how a victory is claimed by either side.
Sooner or later Americans are going to be tired of having their troops deployed to combat zones all the time and the media will reflect the sentiment, and political decisions will be made based on calls from the public to end the war. In the meantime al Qaeda and the Taliban will have continued to operate in locations outside of Afghanistan. If Americans exit Afghanistan while al Qaeda continues to operate in multiple countries the United States cannot claim victory.
The borderless war has made it impossible for the U.S. to eradicate Islamic extremism worldwide and the number of extremists will grow if the U.S. kills civilians and if allegations of wrongdoings by the U.S. government continues.
Perhaps the only way to win the war with Islamic extremism is through psychological war. To beat al Qaeda the U.S. must convince the rest of the world that jihad is the wrong answer and U.S. policies will benefit the whole world. If enough people are convinced of this the jihaadists will be minimized to no more than a soft threat. The most important thing for the U.S. to do will be to prove the ideas and policies of America are not only better than jihaadist ideas, but it must also behave ethically while engaging the enemy.
What I propose is that the U.S. intensify the war effort in Afghanistan while preparing to pull out completely to reassess the global security threats the U.S. faces from other locations in the world. A quick change of the U.S. military formation will throw al Qaeda offguard, especially after being hit hard in Afghanistan. At the same time the U.S. should engage more efforts in the psycho-cyber war in order to reach more people tempted by jihad. Al Qaeda will not be able to keep up with the information flow and will, in a generational period of time, slowly decrease in numbers.
A new stance on the war on terror should not be a military effort alone. Intelligence agencies, the State Department, US AID, civil service organizations, NGOs and the general public should all synchronize their efforts in spreading American ideologies to the rest of the world. We should fill the airwaves and cyber world with information that encourages peace, cooperation, respect and generosity in order to prevent minds from being swayed by violent ideologies. The key however is to be able to talk the talk and walk the walk.

Jakarta Bomb Blast to the Past

Today, July 17, two bombs went off in two separate hotels in Jakarta, Indonesia, killing eight and injuring dozens more.

The group thought to be responsible for the attack is an al-Qaeda branch of Jemaah Islamiyah.

While living in Jakarta in the early 90's I never thought about terrorism and had no fear of being a potential target for a group like Jemaah Islamiyah. I was old enough to know about crime and terrorism and understood that it was a dangerous world, but Islamic extremism didn't seem like much of a threat even though I was living in a country that was mostly Muslim.

In fact, I enjoyed learning about Islam and would visit mosques, talk with Muslims about the religion and even join in during festivities around Idul Fitri. I found most Indonesians to be pleasant and easy enough to get along with, but I did face some hostilities on the streets and was aware of the mob mentality that would take over during large events like the Metallica concert where Indonesians looted and destroyed businesses after too many tickets were sold.

Of course I always thought most of the hostility Indonesians felt towards foreigners was directed at the Chinese, but I did occassionaly get harrassed for being American.

It's hard to imagine that today there are violent extremists throughout the island nation that seek to kill people like me.

What I remember of Indonesia is that I was free to do as I pleased as a foreigner, and was generally treated with kindness by the locals. I remember the tropical beauty of Pulau Seribu and Bali, the Burubudur on Java and the excitement and thrill of the big city in Jakarta.

Now that I'm older and have seen the violence Indonesians are capable of I have a different mentality about what the country really is. Perhaps it's not as safe a place for Americans as I thought it was, and perhaps it is not a place I want to return to as an adult.

It's sad that because of these violent extremists people like my self have to think twice about visiting the country which offers so much diversity in it's culture and so much beauty in it's landscape.

What N.M.'s Veteran Court Should Be Like

Thousands of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan have begun to return to life as civilians in New Mexico, but many of them may not have an easy time adjusting to their new environment. Some veterans will disregard the laws of the state and may find themselves in front of a judge or in jail. The new veterans’ court that the state is creating must be designed to help these veterans get back on track, rather than focusing on punishing them for their misdeeds. It is understood that the state will not refer violent criminals to the veterans' court, although I propose that some violent cases, including some domestic violence and assault cases involving self defense, be tried in a veterans' court. The most important thing to remember when trying to help these troubled vets is that fear cannot be used to force them into compliance. These men and women were trained to be fearless in battle and faced death on a daily basis while serving overseas. The state must not try to coerce veterans into compliance through the fear of going to jail. A veteran who has served in combat will not fear the use of force by police, nor will they fear spending a few months in jail, as the allowable amount of force police can use on a suspect is nowhere near as scary as what the enemy is allowed to do in Iraq and Afghanistan and jail is more like a vacation than punishment when compared to being in a combat zone. What I propose is that the state use a carrot and stick approach when dealing with veterans who have broken the law. Law enforcement officials should immediately determine whether the suspect they have apprehended is a veteran (even better if they can do this beforehand) in order to determine the proper action that must be taken. Law enforcement should be trained in how to deal with combat veterans in order to prevent the escalation of force that is bound to occur when confronting a veteran who is faced with a fight or flight decision. If police know they are dealing with a combat vet than they should use every means possible to deescalate the situation, rather than resorting to violent force. Vets that are booked and processed into a holding facility should immediately be evaluated for mental health disorders including post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury, depression and anger. A Veterans Affairs administrator should provide the evaluation at the holding facility as soon as possible. Veterans who have been determined to have a disorder related to their combat experience should be removed from general population and placed in a rehabilitation/recovery facility or on house arrest before further action is taken. While awaiting a hearing before a judge these veterans should be given proper access to treatment at the VA or through other providers free of charge. It should be determined what type of care should be given on a case by case basis. Veterans should be provided with free representation and should be allowed to explain to a judge why their experience in the military has created difficulties as a civilian. Each judge should determine what type of program the veteran will go into at this point. If the judge decides that a veteran is in need of further counseling and other medical treatment than the vet should be allowed to continue to go to the VA, the Vet Center, or other veteran outreach centers to receive treatment. If it is determined that a veteran must be placed on an extended period of house arrest or do jail time, than veteran services should be provided to the veteran at a location they can easily access, which may include medical treatment, benefits assistance, help finding a job or getting into school and financial and housing assistance. Veterans who have problems with alcohol and drugs should be tested frequently for use, but should not be thrown out of the program or placed back in jail for a first time failure. It would be more beneficial to increase counseling services. Many veterans have had success in recovery by attending programs where they leave the state to participate in a program specifically for veterans on a ranch or camp-like environment. Those who are successful in their program should be rewarded with the opportunity of completing their sentence earlier. If a veteran is placed on house arrest for six months and has met all the requirements of the program for the first two months than the state should consider decreasing the amount of time spent on house arrest. A veteran that goes above and beyond the requirements (i.e. does voluntary work on top of community service) should be the first to be considered for a decreased sentence. And the opposite should occur for those that fail in the program. More time in the program should be added on to those that do not meet the requirements and these veterans should not receive benefits assistance, financial guidance or job placement until they have proven to meet the requirements of the program, such as having clean alcohol and drug tests, completing weekly community service projects and or providing reparations to the victims of their crimes. For homeless veterans I propose a program similar to Habitat for Humanity where they are given housing vouchers for completion of a community service program involving housing development. These veterans will be taught a job skill that will last them a lifetime, such as carpentry, tiling, roofing, etc., while also giving them a place to live. Veterans who receive a voucher and who complete whatever is required of them by the court should have access to social workers for the rest of their lives if they need it to help them stay off the streets. The veterans’ court should not be designed in a similar fashion as the DWI/Drug Court. The issues veterans face are completely different than what other civilians face and should be treated as such. The DWI/Drug Court program may be successful in preventing future drug use and DWIs, but it will not work to help treat post traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury and other military related problems. The veterans’ court should not be more painful than jail or whatever sentencing they would receive if they were not a veteran. If a veteran realizes that it will be quicker and easier to go to jail then to go through a veterans’ program than they will choose jail and the problems will not be fixed. Veterans who violate the law must be held accountable for their actions and should have to repay the victims and the communities for their crimes, but they should not be treated as though they have not already served their country. For those who have served in places like Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan it is difficult to understand why it is not okay to do one thing when they had previously been allowed to do things that were much worse according to local laws.

Moriarty Soldier Spreads Radio News to AfghansFirst

First published in The Independent newspaper, Edgewood, N.M., July 8, 2009.

Just as thousands of recently deployed Marines began their new mission in Helmand province, Afghanistan, fresh violence sparked off in the eastern Paktika province, near the Pakistan Afghanistan border, which claimed the lives of two U.S. soldiers on Saturday.According to reports, insurgents used small arms, rockets, mortar rounds, an explosive-filled truck and at least one shell filled with white phosphorous during an attack at a small base in the Zerok district of the province.This came just days after another soldier went missing in the same region and is believed to be held captive by Taliban forces. The Los Angeles Times reported that the capture of the soldier could provide the Taliban with a “propaganda bonanza,” which is exactly what one local New Mexican soldier has been trying to prevent from happening in the country.Moriarty High School graduate Thomas Castillo is currently in Paktia province, just north of Paktika, where he helps to broadcast news radio to the remote parts of the country in an effort to prevent the Taliban from spreading their own version of the news. A recent Stars and Stripes article explains how Castillo’s unit hands out crank-powered radios in remote villages so the U.S. can be the first to deliver the news before the Taliban has a chance to add their own twist to it.Whenever an incident occurs, like the kidnapping of 16 Afghan de-miners in Paktia on Sunday, Castillo’s unit writes a radio story and sends it to disc jockeys that broadcast the event in the local language. The head of the district where the incident occurs is also contacted to ask for advice on how to handle the situation.Castillo’s role is to work on computers and set up transmitters to ensure the broadcasts will be delivered. The idea behind the mission is to build support among the population by broadcasting information about what the Army is doing to assist civilians. The Army will inform radio listeners as to where a mortar attack is occurring so they can seek safety, or will explain how the U.S. is providing humanitarian assistance in the area. Without the Army broadcasts locals will be subjugated to Taliban propaganda which is often inaccurate and potentially harmful for U.S. Afghan relations.“The Taliban put up a lot of propaganda,” Castillo’s father, Mike Hoitt, said during a phone interview last week. “They might say America is doing this to you or America is doing that. Now they [U.S. Army] have their own radios so they can report the truth.”Castillo’s mother, Tracy Hoitt, said her son has seen some positive signs the mission is working.“He said they’re thrilled. They like the interaction with the Americans and that they’re really happy to get the radios because they’re [Taliban] attacking their people just as much as we’re trying to protect them,” Tracy Hoitt said. “The radios help them to know the truth about what’s happening.”Castillo’s grandmother, Terry Myrick, also thinks the Army is making a difference.She said the radio broadcasts are beneficial, “Because that helps people over there like us and work with us.”“You know you couldn’t breathe without getting in trouble out there,” Myrick continued. “Now we’re actually helping the people. They give food to them and go to remote villages and help people. All that the Taliban does is cause trouble and bomb people that don’t deserve to be bombed. They bomb their own people.” Myrick said Castillo cannot discuss everything he does because of the classified nature of his work, but he does talk about everyday things and asks for more Ramen noodles whenever he does get the chance to call back home.Myrick said nobody wants to see a family member sent off to war, but even so, she is proud of what her grandson is doing.“In a year he’s become a man,” she said. “When he was here this kid was going nowhere. Every time I hear something from him I’m just so proud of him.”Myrick said Castillo was the type of kid that had difficulty in school and after graduation didn’t have much going for him except a job at the Connection. According to Myrick, Castillo realized he was going nowhere and wanted to do something about it, which is why he joined the Army.“You don’t have to stay stagnate all your life,” Myrick said. “There’s more than Moriarty. There’s more in the world.”Castillo’s parents weren’t ecstatic about their son going off to war, but both seem proud of what he is doing and both are getting the support from the community to make the stress of the situation a bit easier.“Small communities do better than the larger ones,” Mike Hoitt said, adding that friends and neighbors are always asking if they need anything for care packages. For information on sending a care package to deployed soldiers contact the Rio Grande Valley Chapter Blue Star Mothers by visiting nmrgvbluestarmothers.org.“My biggest thing is whether you’re for it or against it, support your soldiers because they don’t have a choice,” Mike Hoitt said.

Remembering the Invasion: Psyops, Rockets & Confusion

The psychological operations taking place in Afghanistan today are much different than the psyops we used during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Often times we would use loudspeakers to announce our presence to the Iraqis. Although I couldn’t understand the Arabic that was blaring from the speakers, I was told that we were trying to coax the fedayeen into fighting us by insulting their manhood. It was explained that this would bring them out of their hiding spots to separate them from the civilians they would position themselves next to.
On at least one occasion the psyops had an adverse effect on me. . .
We had taken over some fighting positions that a previous unit was holding before we got there. We were still moving up the main highway on our way toward Baghdad, about two or three weeks into the invasion, and the fog of war had started to take its toll on me.
The unit before us had shot a vehicle the previous night and it was just sitting in the middle of the road all burned up. As soon as we got to our new position my machinegun team moved to a berm and dug out a good hole where we camouflaged the gun. We were in a pretty good fighting hole, but we weren’t being very aggressive. People were walking past us all day checking out our positions. I wanted to go out in front of the berm to question them but I was also scared of land mines.
When night fell I stayed up trying to be as attentive as possible. I was on post staring through the night vision when it was about time to wake up my ammo man, Bonillia. I noticed that there were lights beaming at me from all directions. I thought there were vehicles all around us.
“Wake up,” I told Bonilla.
He did quickly and I briefed him on the situation. I wasn’t sure what the lights were or who they belonged to, but, despite my apprehension, I still wanted to lie down to get some rest. As soon as I bunkered down for the night bright flashes of light burst in the air.
“Get down!” I said, “Don’t let them see you.”
I thought we were surrounded and under attack. More flares went off and then I heard Arabic blaring out from somewhere behind me. I thought the fedayeen were screaming at us and were about to assault us from all sides.
“Stay low,” I told Bonillia, and then attempted to wake my team leader. He continued to sleep however so we made do without him.
“Do you see anything?” I asked.
“No. I don’t see nothing,” Bonillia said.
“Incoming rocket!” someone yelled.
“Get down! Get down!” I told Bonilla.
We popped our heads back up and stared out into the darkness as more rockets came our way. A couple impacted directly behind us where Weapons Company was posted. I scanned the entire area with my night vision goggles on, but I couldn’t see anything. Machinegun bursts were coming from our right flank shooting tracers in the direction my gun was pointed. I kept looking through the night vision scope on our gun but still didn’t see anything. The team to our right unloaded about a thousand rounds into what appeared to be an empty field.
Eventually the shooting ended and the rockets subsided and I managed to get about an hour of sleep before being woken up to stand post again.
In the morning we were debriefed and told that two Iraqis had been killed and that the flares were ours all along and the blaring Arabic was coming from the loudspeakers mounted on one of our vehicles. If the speakers were being used to draw enemy fire than I guess it worked, but the psychological impact it had on me was probably not what our commanders were thinking of when they ordered the loudspeakers to be played.

Magnetic bombs and the future of warfare

Round-up of Daily Violence in Iraq - Sunday 5 July, 2009 McClatchy: "Diyala
A magnetic bomb was stuck to a civilian car and detonated at 11.30 a.m. Sunday in al Mualimeen neighbourhood. The explosion killed the driver and injured two civilian passers by."

Wow, this sure makes it easy to blow stuff up. Just slap this bomb on anything metal and walk away. Seems like criminals are becoming more innovative everyday. The more technologically advanced their opposition is the more creative they become. It just goes to show that if an insurgent has his mind set on killing someone than he will kill someone, no matter who it is. It's like they want to cause chaos just for the sake of causing chaos.
I'm not sure I quite understand why an insurgent would slap a magnetic bomb on any random vehicle, but I guess they think it will benefit their cause.
The longer I've been out of the Marines the more strange I find all this violence to be. . .

It seems to me like these insurgents are not just going to go away. They have managed to stay active throughout the U.S. military campaign in Iraq and have been able to spread their ideals throughout the globe. It will be impossible to capture or kill all the terrorists in the world, so what I suggest is a new strategy:
The military should cross-train soldiers in police-type work to include swat tactics, detective work and undercover operations in order to combat terrorists worldwide. The military should create more smaller special operations type units and spread them throughout the globe on sea, in the air and on the ground to combat international criminal networks like al Qaeda who continue to move from place to place without regard to borders.
It does not make sense to pile all of America's troops into one country to fight an enemy that is not restricted by borders. With smaller military units positioned around the globe the U.S. can track, kill, capture or deter more terrorists in more places. The U.S. should go at it alone and covertly in places that do not wish to cooperate and overtly and with others in places that do.

At first glance this may seem like I am proposing a world police state with the U.S. leading the way in providing the security apparatus, however this is exactly the opposite of what I am proposing. A world police state will occur if we let the war on terrorism evolve on its own. If the U.S. continues to fight this war as it has been doing than what we will see is a continuation of large scale military operations in different countries, by not just the U.S, but Russia, China and India as well. Each excursion will leave behind a militarized state with an organized police force prepared to fight alongside the larger nation which has propped it up. This is what happened during the Cold War and what is continuing to happen now.

What I propose will create a de-militirarization of nations by using small, unseen forces to do the dirty work, while the larger forces remain out of the limelight. By spreading these smaller units throughout the globe the U.S. can collect better intelligence while also building stronger relations with countries that would otherwise go unnoticed in Washington. It is important to focus on the detterrence factor that can be brought with such a restructuring of the military. Not only can these smaller units move in and out of countries unnoticed and conduct better cross-national training exercises, but they can also bring in much needed assistance to the countries they will be deployed in or near.

Many of these units will have plenty of down time to build better relations by providing humanitarian assistance to people in need. By providing this assistance the U.S. can prevent impoverished people from wandering into a life of crime. The military has the tools to provide this type of assistance, but without a strong civilian corps to do the work it may be impossible to bring assistance everywhere it is needed.

The more civilians that can be used to bring in medical supplies, books, food and infrastructure tools, the less the military will be needed in these areas and could eventually be phased out or used only as a small observatory security force, depending on the how active international criminals continue to be in these countries.
The war on terrorism really is a police action that should be fought as such, but at the same time the military should be prepared for conventinal warfare as well. If an enemy wants to fight in a designated area using traditional military frontline fighting tactics where uniforms and insignia are still worn than the U.S. should be ready for that, but they should be prepared for global police work as well, which the U.S. is not.
Yes, the U.S. military has become more accustomed to fighting a guerilla type war, but they have not beat the enemy at their own game. The enemy knows that the U.S. will stop short of sending troops into Somalia or Yemen, which is why they are fleeing there. They know they can blend in as civilians in Europe and North America without the fear of having a batallion of Marine sent after them.
The U.S. needs to be three or four steps ahead of al Qaeda and other terrorists networks, but so far they are not. As long as the U.S. military continues to send more troops into Afghanistan while ignoring other terrorists safe havens across the globe they will always remain a few steps behind.
It is time to restructure our military, not as a reaction to terrorists, but as an offensive move to prepare for the future of warfare.
Now if only we can figure out how to prevent warfare in the first place. . .

Biden to discuss long-term stability with Iraqi leaders

According to a White House press release, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden is in Iraq to visit with troops and to discuss the troop drawdown with Iraqi leaders.

The press release says, "He will discuss with Iraq’s leaders the importance of achieving the political progress that is necessary to ensure the nation’s long-term stability."

I hope he is discussing what type of educational, medical, and infrastructure assistance the United States will provide to ensure this long-term stability, because without this assistance the U.S. will surely fail in creating a stable long-term ally in Iraq.

The U.S. military can proudly walk away as victors in Iraq, having accomplished the mission of destroying any means the country had to build WMDs, while also overthrowing Saddam Hussein and creating a new semi-deomocracy that is friendly to the U.S., however the American people cannot claim victory until 20 or 30 years from now when we know that the country has gained the long-term stability Biden is discussing.

Once we have seen that the country has become an active and engaged world player which seeks to cooperate with the countries surrounding it and the rest of the international community than the United States can claim victory. For this is what is in the U.S.' best interests and this is, or should be, the true goal of the U.S.' war in Iraq.

Now that the troops will be coming home the U.S. can engage in a true democratic form of nation building, using the diplomatic corps to bring fresh innovative ideas to the country in order to create a long lasting friendship between the two nations.