Michael Totten documents the fixing of Ramadi, AQI's former capital

[Undertoad]

AQI's former capital is now the safest city in Iraq outside of Kurdistan. Don't read this unless you are pro-surge. Especially, don't look at the pictures of the children.

The Iraqis of Anbar Province turned against Al Qaeda and sided with the Americans in large part because Al Qaeda proved to be far more vicious than advertised. But it's also because sustained contact with the American military – even in an explosively violent combat zone – convinced these Iraqis that Americans are very different people from what they had been led to believe. They finally figured out that the Americans truly want to help and are not there to oppress them or steal from them. And the Americans slowly learned how Iraqi culture works and how to blend in rather than barge in.

"We hand out care packages from the U.S. to Iraqis now that the area has been cleared of terrorists," one Marine told me. "When we tell them that some of these packages aren't from the military or the government, that they were donated by average American citizens in places like Kansas, people choke up and sometimes even cry. They just can't comprehend it. It is so different from the lies they were told about us and how we’re supposed to be evil."

[queequeger]

What does that have to do with the surge? It wasn't the larger number of troops that secured the area it was us finally learning how to fight this enemy and the iraqi people of that area being more pro-JAM than AQI.

But on the better side, if we managed to do this to every city across the country (because it really is a safe city now), that would be one hell of a finished product.

[Undertoad]

Well, part of the surge was changes in the rules of engagement that Petraeus put in, and these are the results.

[deadbeater]

No, the Sunnis in the Anbar Province were pissed off that al-Qaeda tried to rule over them like they were either Taliban or, worse yet, Saudi Arabians, as if al-Qaeda haven't learned their lessons from Afghanistan. It would have happened surge or no surge. If al-Qaeda were to treat the civilians nicely, the Coalition would have been toast, no matter how large the surge.

[Undertoad]

What lessons from Afghanistan?

Totten today

“What’s the most important thing Americans need to know about Iraq that they don’t currently know?” I said.

“That we’re fighting Al Qaeda,” he said without hesitation. “[Abu Musab al] Zarqawi invented Al Qaeda in Iraq. The top leadership outside Iraq squawked and thought it was a bad idea. Then he blew up the Samarra mosque, triggered a civil war, and got the whole world’s attention. Then the Al Qaeda leadership outside dumped huge amounts of money and people and arms into Anbar Province. They poured everything they had into this place. The battle against Americans in Anbar became their most important fight in the world. And they lost.”