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Fort Hood General Offers View
Of Iraq War And Today’s Army

(Editor’s note: Our January 5 issue included an article on Fort Hood’s efforts to deal with “encroachment” by offering neighboring landowners a CRP-like incentive package in return for temporary agreements not to commercially develop their land. The following comments on the Iraq war by III Corps Deputy Commander Major General James Simmons were intended as a sidebar article, but lack of space prevented their inclusion. This is not Livestock Weekly’s normal fare. The media as a whole, however, have done a consistently miserable job of covering this war and the broader struggle against terrorism, so we believe the candid observations of someone who actually knows what he’s talking about deserve some exposure.)

FORT HOOD, Texas — Major General James Simmons is proud of the men under his command, and he’s proud of the work they are doing in Iraq.
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Simmons himself has served in Iraq, so he is familiar with the situation there. He has been back for more than a year, but he stays up to date on developments through the first-hand observations of returning officers and troops.

General Simmons in his own words:

“Right now we have the Fourth Infantry Division deployed. It’s been a tough week. We’ve had five kids killed in the last five days. I get every one of those phone calls. Since I’ve been here, I’ve personally done 48 funerals.

“The elections that occurred while the Corps was there last year were a huge success — the first example of real democracy that had occurred in the Middle East, ever, really, if you take Israel out of it.

“The elections that just took place are historical.

“There are 18 provinces in Iraq, and in 14 of those 18, life is pretty much normal. In four of the provinces there is a significant fight going on with different groups. Some are terrorists, not Iraqis, primarily led by Zarqawi's men, and those folks are Islamic radicals who want to turn the Middle East back into an empire that existed many centuries ago in which a very few men control all the wealth, all the education, all the religion, and all the power.

“Then you have some former regime loyalists who were doing very well under Saddam Hussein, and they would like to see that regime or a similar regime return to power. That was a secular society based on religion.

“Then you have people who are fighting for power inside the different groups, and last you have a huge criminal element that operates inside Iraq, and they are primarily in those four provinces.

“The Iraqi military is making huge strides in becoming self-sufficient and capable, but it takes 18 years to grow a battalion commander in the U.S. Army. This is not like Microsoft or Southwestern Bell, where you do a talent search and you hire someone to come in and work at a very high level. We don’t do that; we grow our leaders from the bottom up, so it’s going to take some time to develop an Iraqi military that first of all understands that they are responsible to the people of Iraq. That is a democratic army, and that is a different concept than what they are used to.

“In the Middle East, bribery of local officials is a common practice. That is totally unacceptable in a democratic society.

“The idea of a free press that operates as a check and balance for the government and for society as a whole is a totally foreign concept.

“All of these things are going on in a very, very rapid turn.

“Look at the history of the U.S. from 1775 when the army first started fighting up until perhaps the conclusion of the Civil War in 1865. We had a tough time dealing with a democratic idea in the U.S., and we’re trying to compress that and do that in very rapid time in Iraq, and when you do that you’re going to have road bumps as you work your way through it.

“I’ve been in the Army 32 years, and this is the best Army that we’ve had in that 32 years, and I think it may be the best Army that we’ve ever had. Our soldiers are performing absolutely magnificently.

“It’s the first time we have gone to a protracted war with an all-volunteer force. We just got our reenlistment statistics yesterday, and we are ahead of what our expectations would be for this time of the year for reenlisting soldiers. They believe in what they’re doing, but our soldiers fight for the same reason that their great-grandfathers fought in World War II and their grandfathers in the Korean and Vietnam wars. Whenever soldiers get into a conflict, they fight for each other. They join the Army for many, many different reasons, but whenever they get into that fight, they’re fighting for each other.

“The American people can be exceptionally proud of the way the young people are performing. This is not a generals’ war. This is a war fought by sergeants, lieutenants and captains. They’re the kids out there on the streets every day with their lives at risk, and they’re magnificent kids. We don’t have to worry about the next generation. This group of kids will do fine.”