Maj. Gen. Gaskin (right) walks with Gen. David Petraeus.
Today, we got a chance to talk to Marine Major General William E. Gaskin. He commands 35,000 troops, most of them in Al Anbar province, an area the size of North Carolina in Western Iraq. He's also one of the highest ranking black U.S. military officers.
If you follow the link above, you'll see a selection of the transcript of our conversation.
It was a PROCESS, if a congenial one, to get this interview. First of all, the General was actually in Al Anbar, not on some swing through the U.S. The technical logistics were significant. And then, clearly, he has other things to do... so we had to reschedule the interview several times.
Since I have a cousin who recently came back from Iraq, I often think about what the U.S. troops there are living. Although Al Anbar has gotten safer, the U.S. troops—and the locals—are still dying.
The most interesting part of our conversation, to me, was asking about whether Iraq was poised for a civil war, and how and when Iraqis will govern their country.
That question also ties into the recent inquiry into Blackwater, a private security firm in Iraq that killed unarmed civilians after a driver didn't heed a warning to stop. The incident and inquiry beg the question: if there are so many contractors who are armed and performing security that sometimes turns into combat, does that already speak to the military being stretched too thin?
All of it affects people on the ground... our friends, family, and neighbors fighting the war. And regardless of our personal opinions and political dispositions, it's worth keeping an eye on the toll that the war takes on U.S. military, U.S. contractors, and Iraqi civilians.
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