United States troops are increasingly disillusioned at the continuing ability of insurgents to strike at them — and the longer tours of duty being imposed by Washington, Guardian photographer Sean Smith’s latest film from Iraq reveals.
Smith spent just over a month embedded with US forces in Iraq’s largest province, Anbar, and the so-called ”triangle of death” south of the capital, Baghdad.
The US President, George Bush, has cited Anbar as a success story. The province has seen a big drop in violence and some of the local leaders have banded together to fight al-Qaeda in Iraq. Tactics that have worked in Anbar — the creation of smaller bases and more patrols to deny ground to the insurgents — are being replicated in the area.
Yet while Smith was there, months into Bush’s troop ”surge”, the insurgents still managed to kill four soldiers and one translator and kidnap three other personnel.
”The smaller bases in the triangle of death were supposed to deny the insurgents any place they could run to, yet they pulled off something as audacious as that,” said Smith.
Embedded with the 2nd Brigade 10th Mountain Division south of Baghdad, and with the marines in Anbar, Smith was in Iraq when the White House announced an extension of duty for army troops from 12 to 15 months. That did not go down well with some of the men he filmed.
”Going home in September is positive. Going home in November is not positive,” said one soldier, in an indication of the enormous pressure US troops are under.
Even US commanders have admitted that the 30 000-strong troop ”surge”, which started in February, is unsustainable.
Many US soldiers have already had two or even three tours in Iraq, Smith said, with the longer tours likely to deter re-enlistments. The photographer, who has been in Iraq five times, senses less optimism among US forces with the war now in its fifth year.
”Earlier, most people held the attitude they could make a difference; now they just want to survive their tour,” said Smith. ”They feel they can do the military job but the problem is political and they can’t solve the politics, whatever they do.” – Guardian Unlimited