Call Sign Chaos

by Jim Mattis

In the last week of May, President Bush gave a speech at the Army War College, announcing a change in policy. Going forward, security would be a “shared responsibility in Fallujah….Coalition commanders have worked with local leaders to create an all-Iraqi security force….I sent American troops to Iraq to make its people free, not to make them American. Iraqis will write their own history, and find their own way.” I believed the President’s goal was idealistic and tragically misplaced, based on misguided assessments that appeared impervious to my reporting. Of all places in Iraq, Fallujah was certainly the wrong example for the President to cite. I had no idea who told him that responsibility for security was being “shared.” Not one American was left inside the city.