Inside the Ring

Abizaid on war

Gen. John Abizaid spoke recently at the U.S. Naval War College and said the war on terrorism will continue for the foreseeable future, and that the real enemy is not insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan but the Islamist ideology of al Qaeda.

The remarks were made to an audience of officers Nov. 10 that included combat veterans from Iraq.

The comments were supposed to be off the record. However, one student made notes, and they have been circulating on the Internet, most recently in an e-mail to the entire U.S. Army from Gen. Pete Schoomaker, the Army chief of staff.

“This is as clear as it can be stated,” Gen. Schoomaker said. “Please get these words out to all of the men and women in your organizations. I encourage you to personally carry this message to the American people. As soldiers, we have the most credible voices in America. We need to lead the way.”

Gen. Abizaid, U.S. Central Command chief, said he is surprised at how little is known about what is really going on in Iraq and Afghanistan, and that there is a widespread misperception that U.S. forces are about to be pushed out.

Gen. Abizaid predicted that the insurgencies in four Sunni-dominated provinces in north and central Iraq and in southwestern Afghanistan will continue for the foreseeable future, but will be stabilized and eventually be controlled by moderate governments.

The coming year will be a transition year that will see Iraqi forces taking more of the mission from U.S. forces, which need to be fewer in number and less visible to the Iraqi people for the moderate government to succeed.

The main enemy is the “al Qaeda ideology,” which must not be allowed to take hold in any country, he said.

Preventing al Qaeda ideology from spreading will require a long-term commitment, he said.

One of the problems is that there is too much focus on what the United States and its allies have done wrong and not enough discussion of al Qaeda, a global enemy that seeks to rule the world, Gen. Abizaid said.

“The battle against al Qaeda will not be primarily military,” he is quoted as saying in the notes. “It will be political, economic and ideological. It will require the international community to fight, too. We must not let al Qaeda get hold in any country. It will result in our worst nightmare.”

A Naval War College spokeswoman said the notes accurately reflect Gen. Abizaid’s remarks.

Letter home

A retired Army officer shared with us a letter he recently received from a commander whose unit patrols the Tarmiya suburb of Baghdad, a hotbed of Sunni Muslim insurgents. The neighborhood houses some of the most loyal political and military followers of Saddam Hussein.

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