Stryker Brigade Ceremony Focuses on Accomplishments, Sacrifices
By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service
FAIRBANKS, Alaska, Dec. 13, 2006 – Some 4,000 members of the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team gathered here yesterday to celebrate their accomplishments during 16 months in Iraq and mourn their losses as they uncased the unit's colors during a stirring redeployment ceremony.

Servicemembers of the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team salute the colors during a redeployment ceremony near Fort Wainwright, Alaska, Dec. 12. Photo by William D. Moss  '(Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available.The soldiers assembled at the Carlson Community Center, just down the road from Fort Wainwright here, to reflect on their deployment and receive a rousing welcome home and thank you from Army and brigade leaders.

Army Secretary Francis J. Harvey praised the "Arctic Wolves" for serving proudly under some of the most difficult conditions any unit has faced in Iraq. "Without a doubt, the Arctic Wolves were given the toughest challenge of any unit in Iraq," he said, particularly in Baghdad in the midst of growing sectarian violence.

The brigade was due to return home in July when the Army extended its deployment four months, moving the brigade from Mosul to Baghdad to quell violence there.

"You took on the mission, and you did what great American army units have done throughout our history. You accomplished that mission," Harvey told the soldiers. "But you know better than anyone else that the 172nd's many achievements came at a heavy price."

Nineteen soldiers died during the initial 12-month deployment, and another seven during the extension. In addition, another 350 soldiers were wounded in action.

"The nation mourns the loss of these soldiers. We will never forget them and what they did to preserve peace and freedom for our great nation," Harvey said.

Harvey praised the soldiers for exemplifying the new Army advertising slogan, "Army Strong."

"Arctic Wolves have been strong enough to always do the right thing, no matter how difficult the task," he said. "You have been strong on the outside, but also strong in mind. You never broke under pressure. You have been strong in spirit, by never accepting defeat. You have been strong in heart by never forgetting those for whom you fight. You have been strong in character by maintaining the highest ethical conduct while fighting the enemy ... with no moral compass.

"You have been strong in purpose by ensuring the mission was always accomplished, despite the disruption caused by the extension," he continued. "You have been strong for our nation, excelling under harsh and deadly conditions. And you have been strong for yourselves, living up to your full potential. You are truly 'Army Strong.'"

U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, a World War II veteran, praised the 172nd Stryker Brigade as "the nation's next greatest generation" that has brought pride to all Americans, but especially their fellow Alaskans.

"It takes an extraordinary person to volunteer to do the job that you have done -- a willingness to serve and to make a commitment to our country and to all of us," he said.

That commitment "was never easy," particularly during the unit's extension, he said. "You did your job; you accomplished everything you were sent to do and more, and for that, you should be proud."

Col. Michael Shields, the brigade commander, emphasized the importance of yesterday's uncasing of the brigade's colors in the unit's history, particularly because it followed one of the longest combat deployments in U.S. history.

During that deployment, which included duty in northern and western Iraq, then in some of the most dangerous parts of Baghdad, "there was no place we wouldn't go, mounted or dismounted," he said.

The unit hunted terrorists and insurgents around the clock, treated people with dignity and respect and protected the population in "a truly magnificent performance," he said.

"This success is because of our soldiers" throughout the chain of command, he said. "But the backbone has been and always will be our noncommissioned officers: our team leaders, squad leaders, platoon sergeants, first sergeants and command sergeants major."

The leadership they provided, and the combat experience the brigade has gained, has made the 172nd Stryker Brigade the most experienced, lethal and capable combat force in the U.S. Army, Shields said. "You are proven in combat and tested," he said.

Shields said his soldiers proved their professionalism most admirably during the low points of the deployment, when they lost a comrade. He recalled one particular difficult time, when a unit in his brigade took a wounded soldier to the combat support hospital then returned to their mission, maintaining discipline despite the emotional load they were carrying.

"And those are your high points, when you watch these soldiers perform, watch how they treat people with dignity and respect under some the most demanding conditions on this planet, up against the most demanding threat that rarely comes out of the shadows," he said. "It is an incredible, humbling experience to watch them perform."

As a commander, Shields said he found it especially rewarding for him and his battalion commanders to be able to give mission, intent and guidance to their company commanders, empower them and give them the resources they needed, then watch them take the initiative.

"We had incredible company teams, platoons, and our soldiers," he said. "And the soldiers were making tactical decisions on the streets with strategic consequences." Watching them perform, "never cracking, never losing discipline and upholding the standard of the brigade and our Army and our Army values ... was very rewarding," he said.

Now that they've redeployed, Shields said, the brigade members have become models for their fellow soldiers.

"With the uncasing of the colors on the greatest combat brigade in our Army's history, the 172nd SBCT has returned home," he said in ending yesterday's ceremony. "The strength of the wolf is the pack, and the strength of the pack is the wolf. Arctic Wolves."

Related Sites:
172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team
Photo Essay

Members of the 172d Stryker Brigade Combat Team stand at attention during a redeployment ceremony near Fort Wainwright, Alaska, Dec. 12. Photo by William D. Moss   
Download screen-resolution   
Download high-resolution
Secretary of the Army Francis J. Harvey, Maj. Gen. Charles Jacoby and Col. Michael Shields render honors during a redeployment ceremony for the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team near Fort Wainwright, Alaska, Dec. 12. Photo by William D. Moss  
Download screen-resolution   
Download high-resolution

December 13, 2006
Iraq Army Plans for a Wider Role in Securing Baghdad

By MICHAEL R. GORDON and SABRINA TAVERNISE
WASHINGTON, Dec. 12 — Iraq has presented the United States with a plan that calls for Iraqi troops to assume primary responsibility for security in Baghdad early next year. American troops would be shifted to the periphery of the capital.

Mowaffak al-Rubaie, Iraq’s national security adviser, said in an interview that the plan was presented during the meeting in Amman, Jordan, on Nov. 30 between President Bush and Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki.

“I think it is extremely important they reduce their visibility and they reduce their presence,” Mr. Rubaie said of the American troops in Baghdad. “They should be in the suburbs within greater Baghdad.”

A spokesman for the National Security Council, Gordon Johndroe, said Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the senior American military commander in Iraq, was assessing the plan.

The plan may hold some attraction for the Bush administration, which is immersed in a review of Iraq strategy, but it also poses risks.

The plan is consistent with the administration’s desire for the Iraqis to take more responsibility for controlling the violence there, and it may reduce American casualties. But the Americans do not want to become complicit in sectarian violence. The Shiite-led government has been slow to act against militias that are forcing Sunnis from entire swaths of northern and eastern Baghdad, most recently from the neighborhoods of Huriya, Zayuna and Ghadier.

Because some of its forces, especially the police, are infiltrated by militias and have been implicated in attacks on Sunnis, American commanders — and Sunni politicians — fear that given a free hand, government forces might be used to cleanse the city of Sunnis.

Referring to the Iraqi demand for more control, one American military officer in Baghdad said the question was, “How do we accomplish that but still maintain some measure of control to ensure the forces aren’t used in a sectarian manner?”

The plan, if implemented, would be a major shift in American military policy. Commanders began this war fighting a Sunni Arab insurgency, and later broadened their efforts to include Shiite militias, after they became active in 2006.

For months commanders have emphasized that they were fighting both enemies with equal vigor, but this plan would shift focus for the Americans more to insurgents and Sunni extremists.

In response to the Iraqi demands for control, the American military command in Baghdad has also been developing its own plan, which comes with conditions that must be met before control is handed over, according to American officials in Baghdad who asked to remain unidentified because the plan is not final.

The Iraqi plan was outlined by Mr. Rubaie in a recent interview in Bahrain, where he was attending a conference organized by the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a London-based research institute. While the Shiite government has been pushing for greater Iraqi control of military operations for months, the plan was presented formally for the first time to the Americans in Jordan.

The plan calls for pulling back most American troops from central Baghdad and redefining their mission so they concentrate primarily on fighting the forces said to be backed by Al Qaeda and the Sunni-based insurgent organizations, leaving the effort to quell sectarian tensions within the capital to the government’s largely Shiite forces.

Under the plan, the government would have direct command of the two Iraqi divisions in the Baghdad area in the next several months — a timeline that had been pressed by the Iraqis but that the American military has viewed as overly optimistic.

The divisions would be reinforced by two largely Kurdish brigades that are to be sent from Sulaimaniya and Erbil, in northern Iraq. That would amount to several thousand more troops. The training and equipping of the forces would be expedited, Mr. Rubaie said.

Security efforts in Baghdad would focus on seven neighborhoods. (Iraqi officials declined to list them.) There would be fewer checkpoints but they would be better protected. Leaders of death squads would be hunted down.

American troops on the periphery of Baghdad would stop suicide bombers and other terrorists before they penetrated the city. Efforts to prevent infiltration of the capital have not been very successful, partly because the Iraqi military has not adequately staffed the checkpoints, American officials said.

Other American troops would remain as advisers to Iraqi units in Baghdad. American forces might also remain in a supporting role at bases within the capital.

“The nature of the American military is that they won’t let go,” said Mr. Rubaie. “I understand it because they do it much better than we do. But we have to stand alone. We have to wean ourselves off the coalition and make our own mistakes and learn from our own mistakes.”

The plan has seriously alarmed Sunni politicians, who said they could not imagine that the Americans would turn security over to a government that they see as deeply sectarian.

“It will be a disaster,” said Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, a Sunni who is speaker of Parliament. “I think the Americans are not so stupid as to do that. The city would be a safe place for the militias.”

American and Iraqi efforts to secure Baghdad have failed to stem sectarian violence. One problem has been the Iraqi failure to send all the reinforcements promised. The two Iraqi brigades to be provided by the latest Iraqi plan would make up some of the shortfall, but would not nearly compensate for the number of American troops to be withdrawn under the plan.

Mr. Johndroe, the spokesman for the National Security Council, said, “The president was pleased to see the Maliki government being assertive in its plan to secure Baghdad, and made it clear in the meeting that General Casey would study their proposal and take a closer look at it. ”

In response to the Iraqi push for control, Lt. Gen. Peter W. Chiarelli, the second in command in Iraq, developed a plan that envisions redeploying American combat units outside Baghdad and giving Iraqi units with American advisers primary responsibility for security in the city.

But such steps would be taken only after progress on political reconciliation between Sunni and Shiite factions, and a major increase in the size of the adviser teams, among other steps, according to a military official in Baghdad.

In addition, the American plan calls for a major employment program in Baghdad and increased spending on reconstruction projects in areas of the city cleared by American and Iraqi forces.

President Bush talked Tuesday in a videoconference with the ground commanders in Iraq, including General Chiarelli.

Michael R. Gordon reported from Washington, and Sabrina Tavernise from Baghdad. David S. Cloud and David E. Sanger contributed reporting from Washington.

To Stem Iraqi Violence, U.S. Aims to Create Jobs
By Josh White and Griff Witte
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, December 12, 2006; A01

As Iraq descends further into violence and disarray, the Pentagon is turning to a weapon some believe should have been used years ago: jobs.

Members of a small Pentagon task force have gone to the most dangerous areas of Iraq over the past six months to bring life to nearly 200 state-owned factories abandoned by the Coalition Provisional Authority after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. Their goal is to employ tens of thousands of Iraqis in coming months, part of a plan to reduce soaring unemployment and lessen the violence that has crippled progress.

Defense officials and military commanders say that festering unemployment -- at 70 percent in some areas -- is leading Iraqi men to take cash from insurgents to place bombs on roads or take shots at U.S. troops. Other Iraqis are joining sectarian attacks because their quality of life has slipped dramatically, officials say.

Army Lt. Gen. Peter W. Chiarelli, the top U.S. field commander in Iraq, said that tackling unemployment could do far more good than adding U.S. combat troops or more aggressively pursuing an elusive enemy. He said the project to open the factories and stimulate local economies is long overdue and was born "of desperation."

"We need to put the angry young men to work," Chiarelli said in a phone interview from Baghdad. "One of the key hindrances to us establishing stability in Iraq is the failure to get the economy going. A relatively small decrease in unemployment would have a very serious effect on the level of sectarian killing going on."

The CPA initially hoped private investors would buy or lease the state factories, but that did not happen as security faltered and much of Iraq became inaccessible. As privatization hopes failed, the factories languished; some were in pristine form and others had been looted when the Pentagon task force examined them this fall. The tens of thousands of Iraqis who used to make them run -- the country's second-largest employment group, after the army -- remained out of work.

Pentagon officials say the vast majority of former Iraqi factory workers are still unemployed and are bringing in no pay. A small portion of the workforce receives government stipends, akin to welfare, but the pay system is badly flawed and provides about 20 percent of what the workers would make if fully employed, the officials said.

Economic development is a departure from the military's usual missions, but officials think the Defense Department's heft as a consumer of goods and services can boost the effort. The department has been reaching out to U.S. companies that can place large orders for products from Iraq.

Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England set the task force in motion in June after Paul A. Brinkley, deputy undersecretary of defense, returned from a visit to Iraq the month before.

Brinkley, who returned last night from a trip to Iraq with his team, said thousands of Iraqis lost their jobs and the ability to support their families when CPA projections dimmed. Unrest followed the absence of work.

"After three years of unemployment in excess of 50 percent, there are no people in the world that wouldn't be undergoing violence and militias," Brinkley said. "That's human nature. And I think we have to do whatever we have to do to alleviate that problem if we are going to create stability."

So far, members of the task force have visited 26 factories in some of the worst areas of the country, traveling to Baghdad, Fallujah, Mosul, Najaf and Ramadi to inspect facilities that make cement, tile, rubber and textiles. They have identified 10 factories -- their "hot list" of facilities in both Sunni and Shiite areas -- that they think could be open and employing more than 11,000 Iraqis within the next month.

The task force hopes to have a rolling system of factory openings spanning 2007. Part of that effort, its members said, is to reevaluate how the Defense Department spends nearly $4 billion each year to support troops in Iraq.

Brinkley said he hopes that at least 25 percent of that total -- about $1 billion -- could be spent on orders from Iraqi companies that previously have gone to firms in neighboring countries, such as Jordan and Kuwait. "We're not seeking to invest in Iraq, but to buy from Iraq," Brinkley said.

Stuart W. Bowen Jr., the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, whose office has been critical of the rebuilding effort, said that defense officials are "right on target in pushing this."

"It's about stimulating interest and getting contracts going between U.S. firms and Iraqi firms. That's the goal," he said. "The solution in Iraq is not primarily a military one. It is primarily an economic and political solution."

Bowen said defense officials recently met with about two dozen key business leaders at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to gauge private industry's interest in the program. He acknowledged that corruption and lack of security remain major obstacles to U.S. commercial investment in Iraq but said he is impressed that business leaders "recognize that and are still interested in moving forward."

Caterpillar Inc., a $36 billion construction equipment firm, is one of the first U.S. companies to show interest. Gerald L. Shaheen, a Caterpillar group president and chairman of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said he probably would be looking for low-tech supplies, such as hinges, but said the program dovetails with the company's interest in expanding opportunities in the Middle East.

"But I can't look at this solely as a business proposition. I've already got suppliers," Shaheen said. "I'm doing this because I think there's a social responsibility not only to the Iraqi people but to our troops."

Dow Chemical Co., a $46 billion firm that sells plastics and other products in more than 175 countries, is also considering what supplies it can purchase from Iraq.

"We see this as a positive initiative and very much hope that we can find the appropriate opportunities to support business activity in the country," a Dow spokesman said.

U.S. businesses were looking at Iraq as a significant opportunity before the war began. With vast oil resources, an underserved population and a strategic location, that nation had all the markings of a place for U.S firms to expand. But few have found success there.

Major American companies that went into Iraq on U.S. government contracts, including Bechtel, Parsons and Halliburton subsidiary KBR, had hoped reconstruction work would serve as a natural bridge to private-sector deals in Iraq. Instead, they found rampant violence, with many U.S.-funded projects coming under attack and workers being targeted. The firms also received bad publicity when projects did not go as planned.

Now, with their contracts expiring, Parsons and Bechtel are closing up shop in Iraq and returning home. KBR is doing the same with its reconstruction work, though it continues to hold a major contract supporting the U.S. Army.

"We're pleading with the companies to give Iraq a second or third look," said retired Lt. Gen. Daniel Christman, senior vice president for international affairs at the Chamber of Commerce. "This is very different from asking that they go into Fallujah and build a plant. That's not the intent."

Rep. William D. Delahunt (D-Mass.), incoming chairman of the oversight and investigations subcommittee of the House International Relations Committee, said part of the CPA "disaster" was that obvious ideas, such as creating employment for Iraqis, were ignored.

"It's a concept that common sense would dictate to pursue," Delahunt said. "I think the key question is: Is it too late?"

Chiarelli said unemployment is daunting because many working Iraqis support up to 13 family members, meaning unemployment has exponential effects on the country.

"There's no doubt in my mind that it has the potential to turn the tide," he said. "I find it unbelievable after four years that we haven't come to that realization. . . . To me, it's huge. It's as important as just about any other part of the campaign plan."

Helping the hungry on base | The San Diego Union-Tribune
The San Diego Union-Tribune. Helping the hungry on base. Many military families rely on donated goods. By Rick Rogers STAFF WRITER. October 13, 2006 ...
www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/ 20061013/news_7m13bread.html - 23k - Cached - Similar pages
SignOnSanDiego.com > News > Military -- Some troops headed back to ...
By Rick Rogers UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER. March 19, 2006. Besides bringing antibiotics and painkillers, military personnel nationwide are heading back to ...
www.signonsandiego.com/news/ military/20060319-9999-1n19mental.html - 38k - Cached - Similar pages
[ More results from www.signonsandiego.com ]
Fighter jet crashes east of Miramar landing strip; pilot ejects safely
Sponsored Links (UNION-TRIBUNE BREAKING NEWS TEAM and Rick Rogers UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER. 1:33 p.m. November 30, 2006. EARNIE GRAFTON / Union-Tribune ...
go.sosd.com/adapt/servlet/nrp?cid=RIM& cmd=sty&pgn=1&ino=866681&cat=Metro - 7k - Cached - Similar pages
Pearl Harbor vets gathering for what may be 'last hurrah'
Pearl Harbor vets gathering for what may be 'last hurrah' By Rick Rogers (UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER. ) 12/07 5:25 PM. HOWARD LIPIN / Union-Tribune John W. ...
go.sosd.com/servlet/nrp?cmd=sty&cid=RIM& pgn=1&ino=878184&cat=Top%20Stories&lno=1 - 4k - Cached - Similar pages
SignOnSanDiego.com > News > North County -- Movable feast
By Rick Rogers STAFF WRITER UNION-TRIBUNE. November 24, 2006 ... Rick Rogers: (760) 476-8212; rick.rogers@uniontrib.com ...
weblog.signonsandiego.com/news/ northcounty/20061124-9999-1mc24tri.html - 34k - Cached - Similar pages
SignOnSanDiego.com > News > Metro -- S.D. travelers feel effects ...
The San Diego Union-Tribune's coverage of San Diego County's North County region. ... Hospital in La Jolla, where he was treated and released. – Rick Rogers ...
weblog.signonsandiego.com/ news/metro/20061202-9999-1m2briefs.html - 32k - Cached - Similar pages
[ More results from weblog.signonsandiego.com ]
Local Marine, Lance Cpl. Jeromy D. West, Killed in Iraq : LA IMC
By Rick Rogers UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER November 28, 2006 The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, made a lot of Americans angry. They made Jeromy West, ...
la.indymedia.org/news/2006/11/189684_comment.php - 40k - Cached - Similar pages
SignOnSanDiego.com > News > Metro -- Fighter jet crashes east of ...
By Angelica Martinez and Karen Kucher. UNION-TRIBUNE BREAKING NEWS TEAM. and Rick Rogers. UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER. 1:33 p.m. November 30, 2006 ...
crossword.uniontrib.com/news/ metro/20061130-1333-bn30plane2.html - 32k - Cached - Similar pages
AII POW-MIA InterNetwork
By Rick Rogers UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER A Marine Corps reserve officer who volunteered to serve in Iraq is being charged in the death of an Iraqi prisoner ...
www.aiipowmia.com/inter24/in040414usmctrial.html - 6k - Cached - Similar pages
Virtual Reality Helps U.S. Soldiers Back From Iraq
Sources: Ariana Eunjung Cha, Washington Post, March 23, 2005; Rick Rogers, The San Diego Union-Tribune, March 17, 2005. Related stories can be found in the ...
www.primidi.com/2005/03/27.html - 26k - Cached - Similar pages

In Iraq
Media overlooks successes in nation, military leaders say



By Rick Rogers
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
October 4, 2004

A former San Diegan and current U.S. adviser in Baghdad said he believes the media are overlooking coalition successes in Iraq.

Advertisement

Army Maj. Lance Varney, 34, who works with the mayor of Baghdad to provide the city with services, believes the media have emphasized the negatives without acknowledging the positives.
"No one is going to dispute the bad things," said Varney, who grew up in Spring Valley and El Cajon. "But there are good things going on. If you are going to take a fair and balanced approach, you'd look at everything."

Varney isn't the only military official who shares this assessment.

Master Sgt. John Cordero, a spokesman for the Camp Pendleton-based 1st Marine Expeditionary Force that commands 19,000 San Diego-based Marines and sailors in Iraq, was more blunt.

"If it bleeds, it leads," Cordero said.

The U.S. casualty count, which now tops 1,050, should not be allowed to single-handedly dominate the headlines, critics say.

What irks the military is the belief that stories such as the effort to increase Iraq's electricity are being ignored.

"We, like anyone, want balanced presentation," said Sgt. Maj. Lewis Batson, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command. "We wonder why the media can't provide a balanced presentation of events."

According to Batson and the U.S. Agency for International Assistance Web site, the United States has completed roughly 30,000 projects in Iraq, including renovating 2,405 schools and training 33,000 teachers and administrators, but little of that gets media attention.

Other accomplishments include:

Opening or reopening 240 hospitals and 1,200 clinics

Restarting the banking system

Vaccinating 3 million children against measles, mumps and rubella

Surpassing prewar electricity output

Repairing a bridge across the Tigris River used by 50,000 people a day

Printing and distributing 8.7 million math and science textbooks

Varney has been working in Iraq since March and said during a recent telephone interview from Baghdad that "it sincerely blows my mind to see all the great things going on."

"There's been a change," said Varney, whose father served 23 years in the Navy, several of them in San Diego. "Those are indications that things are getting better. Not only are things getting incrementally better, but the Iraqi people are doing the work – 88,000 of them."

Varney, a liaison officer between Baghdad Mayor Alaa Mahmood al-Tamimi and the 1st Cavalry Division based at Fort Hood, Texas, said more could be done if there was less fighting in Iraq.

He said the rebuilding efforts are sometimes frustrated by attacks such as the one Thursday at the opening of a sewage treatment plant that killed 35 children in western Baghdad as U.S. troops handed out candy.

Peter Hart, an analyst for the self-described liberal media watchdog group Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, said facts on the ground are driving the news coverage and said those facts aren't positive.

"The problem with the military's argument is that the media has covered some of the positive stories and that Iraq is a violent place with a growing insurgency," said Hart during a telephone interview from New York City.

"To wonder why the media coverage isn't uniformly positive is frankly bizarre," Hart said. "It sounds like what the critics want is propaganda, and journalism obeys different rules. You can't fault journalists for reporting what they see."

Brent Baker, a spokesman for the Media Research Center, which he said is the largest conservative media watchdog group in the country, has a different take.

"The networks and newspapers do do positive stories, but they are far outnumbered by the stories about bombings and the kidnappings," Baker said in a telephone interview from Alexandria, Va. "While they are stories, I think it gives the misimpression that mayhem is going on in the whole country.

"It (the coverage) lacks context. You can watch TV news in San Diego about murders and robbings. But you know that that isn't happening in La Jolla. You realize that the whole city isn't in a crime wave," Baker said.

"The military sees good things on the ground that are not being reported," Baker said. "They want people to know that Iraq isn't as hopeless as it seems."

Lost in the rush to cover the latest attack is the long view, said Lt. Col. Barry Venable, a Defense Department spokesman.

"There are no-go zones in Iraq for U.S. forces. That's true. But 18 months ago, the whole country was a no-go zone," Venable said. "This is a process, an undertaking of years."

Varney says he believes what he sees.

He said people are going back to work, trash is being hauled, schools are being fixed and clinics and police stations are being built.

"I ask my Iraqi friends all the time what they think. 'Is your country now more at ease?' And most of them say yes. Especially when a sewer line goes in."


Rick Rogers: (760) 476-8212; rick.rogers@uniontrib.com