Watching TV of late one sees a lot about the Iranian elections, Michael Jackson, and maybe the beginning of the end in Iraq. It really is the beginning of the end here. While on a recent logistical mission to the massive base at Balad Iraq my team was stuck in a sandstorm keeping us in the base until the security agreement deadline had passed. By the agreement, advisors like us are exempt from the many provisions. The main provision is that no coalition forces are permitted inside major cities except at the behest of the local authorities during an emergency. Many Iraqis took this to mean any and all cities with no real definition as to how big or small. So on July 1 when a US armor unit with M1A1 tanks rolled into a Diyala city of only 30,000 people they were stopped by a truck load of Iraqi Police armed with only Ak47s and told to turn around because they were not permitted in the city limits without the police chief’s permission. These Soldiers could have responded by pointing the main gun at the IPs or just rolling right by them but they did the right thing. They radioed higher and respected the sovereignty of the Iraqi government. In the end they turned around went back onto the FOB and probably had some ice cream or cake at the chow hall. Despite the potential for the situation to turn violent between allies the results have thus far been good minus some suicide bombings in Baghdad. The willingness of the IPs to tell the Americans to turn around is sign of ownership and responsibility. No IP, no legitimate IP, wants to be at home when Al Qaeda in Iraq comes to call. If the situation gets bad enough they will call the Americans and we will pounce on an enemy they might for once be in the open. We advisors are still allowed to go where we want but the command has put out an order “No unnecessary trips outside the wire until July 10”. This is not to prevent casualties or to minimize the overlap of Iraqis and Americans it is to present a perception of American withdrawal and slowly foster confidence in the Iraqi Security forces. I don’t mind doing a little office work for a while anyway.

Lack of confidence is the problem. All of our local interpreters are afraid. They don’t trust the Iraqi Army or the Iraqi Police. Memories of Saddam are not that distant. There is no real faith in the government leaders with the exception of the Kurds who put their faith in the regional government of Kurdistan but are deathly afraid of the Iraqi Army. I saw pictures of young Iraqis in Baghdad celebrating but when we got back home to Kirkush it was business as usual. Our Iraqi friends were happy to see us back safe but they are all worried about what will happen once we are gone. Many of my Iraqi friends and even an Iranian have told me that the US messed up by putting Iraqis in charge of their country. Instead they all suggest that the Americans should have put their own people in charge to change the culture of corruption in Iraq. Some have even said that Iraq should be the 51^st state. We are not invaders, we never intended to be. We consider ourselves liberators and empowers of change. I joked with one of my interpreters that he might be hanging on to the helicopter once we leave just like the Vietnamese did. He didn’t laugh; I guess it wasn’t that funny after all.