Iraq

Iraq's vice president, a Sunni Arab, says the recent killing of 13 people associated with a local political leader in eastern Anbar province was carried out by Iraqi army troops commanded by Colonel Raheem Kareem Resan. This somewhat undercuts the "those crazy Anbaris and their wacky tribal disputes" line previously issued by the Baghdad government.

Also someone is bombing the houses of policemen in Fallujah.

It looks to me like relations between Iraqi security forces and the people of al Anbar are deteriorating. If this is the wave of the future, fasten your seatbelts for 2010.

AZHAR SHALLAL/AFP/Getty Images

I've been mulling young Maj. Gen. Dunlap's great contribution last week. I still like it, but, without taking anything away from his combat JAGs, I've got a couple of distinctions to make.

First, there is no lack in history of REMFs who become heroes. That's part of the story -- for example, Mess Attendant 2nd Class Dory Miller stepping up to the machine gun at the crucial moment. The important difference between service members is that some are in a line of work in which they routinely get shot at or otherwise threatened with the loss of life, and some are not. It doesn't depend on your MOS -- obviously, even a food service specialist can find his or herself on the front lines. (See photo above.) And lawyers who get bombed while moving around Iraq -- yeah, they are in the middle of combat too.

But I still think that the infantry and the like should be privileged above others, for the combination of being shot at a lot, and also simply suffering harsh conditions as part of the job. Am I wrong?

Here's a thoughtful comment posted a couple of days ago by "Schmedlap" that I think kind of settles it out for me:

"REMF" is not an MOS or duty position. It is a state of mind. Ditto "FOBbit" and "TOC Rat" and others. "REMF" is a term of derision borne not of one's location, but of one's attitude. It's one thing to be in the rear and busting your tail to help the guys closer to the fight. It's quite another to be in the rear and hogging every amenity and doing nothing to help the people who need support. The latter is a REMF, FOBbit, or whatever similar term you want to apply to it.

Italics are mine. I think he is right.

U.S. Navy

Someone killed 13 people in al Anbar province, many of them relatives of a leader of the Iraqi Islamic Party. Is this more pre-election jockeying, or what? The Baghdad government is calling it a tribal dispute. That may be true -- but it certainly is what I would say if I wanted to just chalk it up to those rowdy Anbaris.

Anybody got a clue as to what is happening in Anbar?

KHALIL AL-MURSHIDI/AFP/Getty Images

I didn't see this in my regular newspapers. It happened up in Baqubah. Police took two wounded, army apparently none. I don't know what it means. Maybe just a personal dispute, maybe more than that.

Photo:  ALI YUSSEF/AFP/Getty Images

I'm having a rough week with the Air Force, which is one of our military services.

Here is a note from Air Force Maj. Gen. Charles Dunlap. As he says, he is a longtime friend -- I've known him since he was a pup. But, expressing his personal views, he strongly disagrees with my comment yesterday about a smackdown between a PoW and a JAG:

You know I am a huge fan of yours, but I must say I'm saddened by your blog "Before you shoot your mouth off." Allow me to share some personal views.

I am not defending the former Army JAG (Mr. Kenniff), but it is a mistake to paint all JAGs as "REMFs."  The reason isn't hard to discern: re-establishing the rule of law has taken center stage as a key element of our counterinsurgency strategy, and that mission causes JAGs and paralegals to frequently find themselves in extremely dangerous places.  

Regardless, I don't think anyone serving in harms' way in Iraq (or Afghanistan) should be mocked based upon mistaken assumptions about their career field or the duties they perform. 

I have enormous respect for Shoshana Johnson for her service, and especially for the courage she showed as a POW.  And I don't think her career field should matter. She was a food service specialist with a vehicle maintenance company. By the definition your blog seems to use, does that make her a REMF? 

Actually, I don't believe that in today's wars there really are rear areas or, for that matter, REMFs as that term was originally conceived. 

I don't know Kenniff but I do respect that he spent a year in Iraq (as I also respect the month or so that Johnson spent there).  I don't know anything about Kenniff's service, but can you imagine anyone who spent a year in Iraq who did not come under at least indirect fire on more than one occasion? I can't. 

More to the point: I recently had the honor of awarding the Purple Heart to one of our young JAG officers who had her knee blown apart by an IED in Iraq (another JAG was also injured in the same attack, albeit less seriously). She also suffered a number of other lacerations, including a serious cut on her face. (As an aside, her mother told me she gave up pursuing a modeling career in New York to become lawyer). 

She showed enormous courage both at the time of the attack and subsequently. I was in the AOR that day, and spoke to her shortly after she arrived at the evac hospital at Balad. Despite her injuries, all she wanted to do is give me a MISREP (mission report), and tell me about the courage of others.

Her Veterans Day message (published in an internal JAG Corps online service) is attached. An earlier news report is found here.

People may think she is a REMF, but her particular duties required her to go outside the wire frequently. (Moreover, as I say, she is not the only JAG or paralegal wearing a Purple Heart.)

She has spent months in rehabilitation, and has many more to go.  Surgeons saved her leg, and she is very determined to walk again.  We are all praying for her. 

Tom, she was doing what her country asked her to do, and as a result she spent her 27th birthday in a hospital bed at Brooks Army Medical Center. (Cruelly, while in surgery there for her wounds, her money and her bank card were stolen from her hospital room.) And, unlike Shoshana Johnson, she doesn't have a book deal or Larry King appearances lined up. 

She does, however, have a wheelchair. She may be a "REMF" to your readers, but she is a hero to me.

Your friend and fan,

Charlie Dunlap

 Steve Thurow/ U.S. Air Force

So U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan (nee General) Eikenberry doesn't want to give Afghan President Karzai a blank check? No one does. But anyone paying attention knows that Eikenberry and Karzai have been like oil and water since Eikenberry was the top American general in Afghanistan. I think it was a bad move to put him in there as our top diplomat. In addition, because Eikenberry was sent to Kabul, that meant Chris Hill, who had been slated for that post, needed to be sent elsewhere, so he was given Baghdad -- which meant shoving aside Anthony Zinni, who already had been asked to go to Iraq, and instead sending Hill, who doesn't know squat about Iraq.

SHAH MARAI/AFP/Getty Images

The Kirkuk primary begins -- with the assassination of a Sadrist leader.

In other Iraq news, two guys planting a bomb in Mosul blew themselves up.

Poetic justice, right? Sort of. But it reminds me of a day in Baghdad when  some guys who had been firing mortar shells to near where I was were killed when a shell detonated in their tube. I was surprised and a bit taken aback at the glee I felt at this turn of events. An Iraqi I worked with warned me against taking pleasure in such events, saying that by giving way to such feelings we give up some of our humanity. He told me about his brother, a policeman, who had gotten so accustomed to violent death that one day, after collecting body parts at bombed market, swung his official pickup truck by his home for lunch -- only to have his young son, pleased to unexpectedly see his father at midday, jump up into the bed of the police pickup, and land in the parts.

kurdistan/Flickr   

OK. I've had a few days to think about this and read the reporting. Here is what I would like to know. I hope some staff member on the Armed Services Committee is keeping a file of such questions:

1. The shooter obviously was a low performer. Why was he shuffled along through the system, instead of simply being let go? I worry that the military often keeps the bottom 5 percent of performers simply because it is easier than getting rid of them.

2. Was he not let go for fear of appearing prejudiced? If so, someone is guilty of moral cowardice, of failing to do the hard right thing instead of the easy wrong.

3. If, as reported, he tended to rant instead of practicing medicine, keeping him on a disservice to the wounded soldiers he counseled. What was his record of treatment, compared to other therapists? Did soldiers complain about him? This should all be reachable information.

4. Did Walter Reed have such a file of complaints about him? If so, was Fort Hood made aware of this when he was transferred? Or was this a classic case of dumping a difficult soldier on another command, in this case with catastrophic results?

5. There appear to have been a number of warning signs. Obviously, it is easy in retrospect to see them. But is there anything that can be done differently? General Casey, the Army chief of staff, said over the weekend that he is worried about a "backlash" against Muslim troops. I think the best way to prevent such an overreaction would be to re-assure soldiers that the Army is uncovering and dismissing Muslim soldiers who veer into extremism. 

Forgive me if this seems painfully obvious. I am trying to be careful here.

Will Palmer/Flickr