Obama Changes Pace in Middle East

By Heidi Stromberg

Sept. 11, 2001 is a date that will live on in infamy. Americans were attacked by terrorists on American soil. Since then, by order of the former President, George W. Bush, the United States has been involved in an international effort to end terrorism.

According to the Defense Link website (www.defenselink.mil), as of Dec. 1, 851 U.S. military personnel have been killed in and around Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom. 659 of those were killed in action. Over 4,000 U.S. military and civilian casualties have been reported throughout Operation Iraqi Freedom. Blood has been spilled overseas to protect not only U.S. citizens, but others from tyranny, terror, and oppression.

Now, President Barack Obama is bringing about change like that which was promised throughout his campaign. He has renamed the “war on terror”. He declared on Mar. 7 that the United States had one clear goal: to dismantle al Qaeda in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and to prevent them from returning to power ever again.

According to the Foreign Policy Association website (www.fpa.org), President Obama also called for even more aid and the necessity of integrating military and civilian efforts. The announcement was made at a United Nations conference a week after Mar. 7 that the U.S. would offer $40 million to help prepare for the Afghan elections.

On May 11, General David D. McKiernan, who had been the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan under President Bush, was dismissed and replaced by Lieutenant General Stanley A. McChrystal. McChrystal was a former special forces commander. This move further signaled the revision of the foreign policy regarding Afghanistan since the Bush Administration.

The White House website (www.whitehouse.gov) outlines President Obama’s new approach to the overwhelming mire of bullets, bombs, and soldiers that is the Middle East. He is going to treat Pakistan and Afghanistan as two countries, but as the same challenge. This strategy focuses more intently on Pakistan than past operations have. It calls for a significant increase in U.S. and international support of the Pakistani performance against terror.

For the first time ever, the United States will fully resource its effort to prepare and sustain the Afghan National Army and the Afghan National Police. It will devote notably more resources to the civilian efforts in both Pakistan and Afghanistan. And it will push for the continued and expanded involvement of international powers.

President Obama also wants to responsibly end the war in Iraq. According to the White House website, his latest plan involves ending the combat mission in Iraq by Aug. 31, 2010. He would like to leave the Iraqi Security Forces with full responsibility for any key combat missions.

Ed Willis, a Colonel in the National Guard and a teacher at RHS, spent one year in Iraq in 2004.

“[Iraq] was hot, dusty, and confusing. We worked with Iraqi civilian authorities. We had to overcome lots of problems in order to accomplish our mission as construction engineers,” said Willis.

Aug. 31, 2010 is the day that will mark the end of the previous mission of the U.S. forces in Iraq, according to Obama’s new plan. The fundamental change in policy will give U.S. troops three completely different core tasks: train, equip, and advise the Iraqi Security Forces; provide protection for military and civilian personnel; and carry out targeted counterterrorism procedures.

The President is determined to keep the U.S. commitment to remove all of our troops from Iraq by the end of 2011 as well. This assurance was made under the Status of Forces Agreement.

Active pursuit of the goal of Israel and Palestine living side-by-side in peace is high on the President’s list of promises, too. According to the White House website, he believes that the U.S. cannot wait any longer to work towards peace in this region. He sent a Special Envoy for Middle East Peace on his second day in office.

In his address to the nation on Dec. 1, President Obama announced that he would be sending an additional 30,000 troops to Afghanistan. Excerpts from his speech indicate that he thinks the additional troops are necessary to target the insurgency, secure principle population centers, and help generate the ideal circumstances in which the U.S. can shift responsibility to the Afghans. Ultimately, the Afghans would be held accountable for their own country.

“If [Obama is] supporting the commander on the ground, I think it’s a good thing,” said Willis. “The commander knows better what’s going on over there than the people in D.C., so it’s good that the President is supporting him.”

It’s been a long, tiring, and blood-soaked trek through the sands of the Middle East. Americans went there to protect freedom. And now new freedoms are being left in their wake. The bonds of fear and subjugation have been broken in places where cruelty was law and safety depended upon the whim of a terrorist. In 2011, begins the end of the active military involvement.