December 14-- The below email is being shared with you to provide a perspective we don't get from our country's national media outlets. With many of the country's best men and women in harm's way, responsible citizens need to become informed and make their decisions based on fact, not media spin.

This is from an officer in the field. He deserves to be heard.

-----Original Message-----

From: Economy Tom COL MNF-I DCS R&S Science &Tech Advisor

Sent: Sunday, December 11, 2005 11:13 AM

Subject: [U] Greetings from Baghdad

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED

This e-mail is going to be a little different from my normal weekly updates. As we head into the National Elections here in Iraq , this is a very important time in the US 's Global War on Terrorism. So I'm going to take a few moments to get on my soap box, be a little long-winded and then I'm going to ask you to do me a favor. A couple of weeks ago, GEN Abizaid, the Commander of CENTCOM, the commander of all troops in Southwest Asia, gave a talk at the Naval War College . He summarized our progress in Iraq , Afghanistan and in the Global War on Terrorism. A description of his remarks is included below so you can read firsthand, but I would also like to give you my spin on his comments. Although I don't have any first hand knowledge of our progress in Afghanistan , I assume the situation is similar.

If you take one thing away from my e-mail, please take this. The enemy that we are fighting here in Iraq is not the average Iraqi who doesn't want us here. The enemy that we are fighting every day is al Qaida. They are here in great numbers, they import foreign fighters and they are well funded, technically savvy and are focused on disrupting the democratic process in Iraq . We are here in Iraq fighting the global war on terrorism. We are fighting the same terrorist ideology that attacked on Sept 11, that attacked the Madrid train station and the night club in Bali . We are fighting them on their turf and on their terms and we are kicking their butts.

From the US forces standpoint, the story that is constantly portrayed in the media is the 3-4 roadside bombs that either kill or injure an American service man and woman. What you don't hear about is the hundreds of other IED events that we either detect before they're detonated or deal with and they have no impact to our operations.

Additionally, not much is said of the 20 or so offensive operations every day that we take to capture bomb makers, bomb making materials and terrorist cell leaders. To give you an idea of the magnitude of the problem, the insurgency exists in only 4 of the 18 Iraqi Provinces. It is not all over the country. While it can be formidable, it is localized. al Qaida is a potent, well-financed adversary, but make no mistake, we have the initiative. They are on the defensive, both operationally and tactically. They will continue to get their licks in, but we are truly winning every day

On the Operational level, or the Campaign level, we are doing equally well. Our path out of Iraq is through the Iraqi government and their security forces. We will no longer be needed when their government is officially elected and properly functioning and their security forces can handle the terrorist. This week, the Iraqi people will elect a democratic government. Meanwhile, the transitional government is currently functioning in all areas. They are managing the power grid and the oil production, they're running the elections, they're establishing and executing budgets and they're conducting international diplomacy. The Iraqi security forces, both the Iraqi Police and the Iraqi Army, are becoming more professional and more effective every day. Of all the offensive operations I just spoke about, the Iraqis had the lead in almost a quarter of those operations and they participated in well over two/thirds of those operations.

Their casualty rate is over twice the rate that we experience, but they stay and fight. This is their country and they want stability and they are working hard to achieve that end. I'm not saying our time here is short or that we are not needed, but we are growing a country and giving them the tools to eventually become self-sufficient.

Now, I'm going to ask a favor of each one of you. A couple of weeks ago, when I wrote the story of the 3 servicemen on their final deployment home, I said at the end that trying to justify their sacrifice was for another time. This is it. I would like for each of you to become personally involved in getting the message from GEN Abizaid out to the American public. Don't just hit forward on this message. Read it, understand it and send it out in your own words, with the personal passion that you feel. Talk about it at Church. Have your principal read it at the local High School. Talk about it with friends who are both for and against the war. Write your Congressmen and Senators.

Get the message out. This e-mail is going around the country, to friends and family from California to Florida and from Texas to Massachusetts . The truth is always good. Share the truth with everyone you can think of and in every way that you can think of.

Now, I'm off my soapbox. This week will be a truly historic event as the Iraqis take to the polls. I am proud of what our soldiers have done and what our country has done and what it will continue to do.

It is truly my privilege to serve the Army of the greatest country in the world. I am deeply indebted for all your thoughts, prayers and the support that you have given me, my family and my fellow soldiers. May God Bless each one of you and your families and may God Bless America !

Tom Economy

COL , AR

S&T Advisor, MNF-I, Iraq

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All: Notes from a student at the Naval War College on GEN Abizaid's recent speech: ___________________________________________________________

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General Abizaid (Commander, U. S. Central Command whose responsibilities include Iraq and Afghanistan ) spoke to the Naval War College last week.

The audience comprised primarily War College students who are mid-grade/senior military officers. The majority of these officers have served in the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan , so there was a real understanding of the dynamics of the region... BS would not sell to this audience.

Here is a short summary of General Abizaid's comments, from contemporaneous notes:

He is amazed as he goes around the country and testifies before the Congress how many of our countrymen do not know or understand what we are doing or how we are doing. There are very few members of Congress who have ever worn the uniform (of our Armed Forces). He said that the questions he gets from some in Congress convince him that they have the idea that we are about to pushed out of Iraq and Afghanistan . There is no relation between this and the reality on the ground.

As he goes around the region and talks to troops and junior officers he is very impressed by their morale and their achievements. They are confident that they are capable of defeating the enemy. You will never see a headline in this country about a school opening or a power station being built and coming on line, or a community doing well. Only the negative things will get coverage in the media. He told the mid-grade/senior officers to go to their local Lions Clubs when they go home and tell the people what they are doing. If they don't get the word out, the American people will not know what is really happening. The insurgency is in four of 18 provinces in Iraq , not all 18. You do not hear about the 14 provinces where there is no insurgency and where things are going well. The insurgency in Afghanistan is primarily in Kandahar province (home of the Taliban) and in the mountain region on the Pakistani border. The rest of the country is doing well.

Iraq now has over 200,000 soldiers/police under arms and growing. They are starting to eclipse the US/coalition forces. Their casualty rate is more than double that of the US . There are more than 70,000 soldiers under the moderate government in Afghanistan and growing.

He predicted that the insurgencies in the four Sunni provinces in northern/central Iraq and in Southwestern Afghanistan will be there for the foreseeable future, but they will be stabilized and become small enough so the moderate governments will be able to keep them under control.

2006 will be a transition year in Iraq and that will see the Iraqi forces take much more of the mission from the US forces. This is necessary to bring stability to Iraq . We need to be fewer in numbers and less in the midst of the people for the moderate Iraqi government to succeed.

Our primary enemy is not the insurgency in Iraq and Afghanistan . It is al Qaida and their ideology. We are at a period now that is similar to the 1920s where Communism and Nazism had not taken hold in Russia and Germany . The ideology of Al Qaida is out there and it has not taken hold in any country in the Middle East . We need to make sure that it does not and we are doing that, but it will be a long problem with a long commitment.

He said that we are focused on the things that we (Americans) have done wrong, like Abu Ghraib, and not talking about this enemy. We need to talk about this enemy. al Qaida is all over the world. Their goal is to get the US out of the region and come to power in the Islamic countries of the region. From there, their goal is to establish a Caliphate (under a single Islamic ruler) that goes from the Atlantic in North Africa to Indonesia in the Pacific. Fifty years after this happens, their goal is to rule the rest of the world.

Since Desert Storm in 1991, US forces have not lost any combat engagement in the region at the platoon-level or above. al Qaida has no beliefs that they can defeat us militarily. They see our center of gravity as being the will of the American People. That is influenced by the media and they are playing to that. They don't need to win any battles. Their plan is keep the casualties in front of the American people in the media for long enough that we become convinced that we cannot win and leave the region. This would be tragic for our country.

The battle against al Qaida will not be primarily military. It will be political, economic, and ideological. It will require the international community to fight too. We must not let al Qaida get hold in any country. It will result in our worst nightmare. Picture life in Afghanistan under the Taliban, that is what Al Qaida's ideology has as a goal.

If you look at the geography (of al Qaida), there is no place to put a military solution. They are networked and they are all over the world.

They are a virtual organization connected by the Internet. They use it to proselytize, recruit, raise money, educate and organize. They have many pieces that we must focus on: the propaganda battle in the media, safe houses, front companies, sympathetic members of legitimate governments, human capital, fighters and leaders, technical expertise, weapons suppliers, ideologically sympathetic non-government organizations (charities), financers, smugglers, and facilitators. A lot of their money comes from drugs.

We are winning but we have got to maintain constant pressure over time with the international community and across the US government agencies.

No one is afraid that we can't defeat the enemy. Our troops have the confidence, the courage, and the competence. We need the will of the American people to be sustained for the long haul.

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED