“He will not risk cannot win,” John Paul Jones said, and it’s a lesson that at least one Army lieutenant colonel seems to have taken to heart as well.
Michael Yon tells the tale of LTCOL Doug Crissman arresting the Iraqi chief of police in Hit – a man who had helped the coalition defeat al Qaeda in the Anbar city – in order to avert what was looking to be a bloodbath. The arrest appears to have been done outside Crissman’s normal authority, and I don’t doubt that he had some explaining to do with higher.
He might be explaining still.
Most people know what the right thing to do is, even in very complex situations. Some even have the courage to do it. A very few have the audacity to act on a moment’s opportunity.
certainly this was the harder right, instead of the easier wrong.
Wow, quite a story. Smart men making lots of good decisions. If you like that, try this.
While I read this and, it made me cry, Michael Yon had me here; On the way in, I realized one of Crissman?
While I read this and, it made me cry, Michael Yon had me here; On the way in, I realized one of Crissman’s soldiers had been shadowing me, watching my back, when he made eye contact with another soldier and said, “You got him now? I need to get back out there.” “I got him.” Our soldiers take good care of writers and always keep watch during situations.
I still don’t see a positive end to this conflict. It seems to me that no matter how many LTC Crissams we have and how many Michael Yons to report their deeds, it still will not be enough for the Congress of the United States. In addition, I don’t see how you take a country that is so completely corrupt and turn it into a democracy where people walk away from power with dignity…Everyone is in this for a slice of the pie. I see no one that is in this for the freedom of the Iraqi people. How can you possibly turn this into a stable country under these circumstances? After all, this story tells of a police chief that was corrupt… Do you think he is the only one?
Ready, set, fire… the flame wars…
Sound like the kind of guy who would “Turn the lights on” for lost aviators at night in hostile waters.
N
Casca stole my thoughts exactly
Wow, quite the story!
Babs,
The City Council of Hit and the police, and citizens saw the rule of law in action with their own eyes. It was modeled for them personally by LTC Chrisman and his men who removed from power an individual who was widely admired and respected until he disgraced that trust with corruption. The arrested police general thought he could act like a warlord, because of his ferocious reputation against AIQ. He ignored previous warnings, and the Iraqi government needed him taken down.
Every Iraqi who witnessed the arrest and the respectful way LTC Chrisman made himself available after to calm fears and answer questions must be thinking to themselves:
“Now that wasn’t so hard… We could do that ourselves..”
No, the arrested police chief is far from the only corrupt official in Iraq. But today there is one less, achieved without bloodshed. A critical teaching moment was seized, and the lessons will be repeated –again and again by other Iraqis.
Audacious indeed.
Babs, “And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.”
Well said, Casca. I was trying to put my thoughts to words, and you beat me to it.
I think that examples that our troops can provide on genuine leadership qualities will go a lot farther in being incorporated into the local municipalities than being ordered on them. Crissman’s efforts to talk to the city leaders went a long way toward encouraging Hit to a civility and rule of law they haven’t seen before. Efforts they can observe and learn from.
Well done, to him.
Well done to LCol Crissman, right man in the right place at the right time.. sounds like he’s got a pretty tight unit under his command and a talent for understanding the intricate workings of the local folks… I’d give him a medal for pulling this off with, command unity, tact, courage and diplomatic follow throgh… he’s got it together…are there lessons to be learned here??? Irish
“I?
“I’d give him a medal for pulling this off with, command unity, tact, courage and diplomatic follow throgh… he’s got it together…are there lessons to be learned here???”
LCol Crissman for President??
Sorry, couldn’t resist. Umm … wait, I know!
Lex for President! Its Lex for President!
Well, I would certainly agree that Lex should run for President with LTC Crissman for VP!!!
But, Michael Yon certainly has the talent for pulling the burning coal out of the inferno. I guess it is a glass half full or half empty argument. As I said in my previous post, there aren’t enough LTC Crissman’s or Michael Yons to sway the American Congress in the time left to us (as dictated by the American Congress).
I feel very negative about the American outcome in Iraq right now. As many bona fide heroic acts that the LTC Crissmans pull off right now will never be enough for the United States Congress. So, I wonder, and especially after reading Michael Ardolino’s account of his embed in Anbar, what is the good of it? It seems rather clear to me that when the U.S. pulls the boots on the ground it will all end up in a huge blood bath because it takes decades to inculcate people to a civilized way of solving disputes. Yeah, maybe LTC Crissman did a daring thing and gained a big win. I am not disputing that but, I wonder if he was removed from theatre tomorrow if his lesson would actually have much of an impact on this culture. Or, would he just be someone that some people remember but can’t possibly follow his good reasons based on cultural anomosity and tribal dominance?
Yup, I get what you say Capt J, I just wonder if LTC Crissman’s actions matter in the big scheme of things. I don’t think they do in the current macro political climate…
These comments are utter nonsense.
Whoever posted “rule of law” above should read the article.
“Hamid is an energetic man with a taste for power. Given an out, Hamid might just opt to become a full-fledged problem. The last thing Anbar Province needs is another power broker working outside the system”
So its become our mission to arrest and deliver for execution people who might threaten their political enemies at some vague point in the future? *And* we’d rather deliver him to death than allow him to honorably resign from the post we nominated him to?
Sorry, this isn’t going to end well.
Babs, I think the problem is that the macro folks forget about the micro – it’s the little things that count – all of them, one at a time and then tied together that change the macro – the bottom line is rule of law – they either want it or they don’t – if they do then we stay and if they don’t then we go.. How long did it take the US to ratify a constitution and the rule of law in our own land with a history of rule of law?? Irish
I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said nonsense. I apologize.
But there’s nothing in the article about warrants, indictments, or a judiciary investigation.
There is talk about a “secret plan” to arrest the General, with the politicians to be notified after the fact.
In fact, the article says this “secret plan” was never authorized. So. No warrant for the arrest, no indictment. No authority.
So I don’t really understand how the normally sane denizens of this blog make the connection between what the LTC did and the concept of rule of law.
I’m open to an explanation, if anyone’s willing.
Ah heck with it, I invoke the Skippy-san clause:
I am truly torqued by this article.
We’re collecting political prisoners so the hacks/political entrepreneurs in the local government food chain don’t have to?
And then we’re waving the jewels of Western Civ. (SPQR, rule of law) as if this is something to be celebrated?
And please, this is not an argument about anything beyond the Yon article. AQI, WMD, Timelines. Not relevant.
I get that you’re not a fan of the LCOL’s actions – it appears clear to me anyway that, having done the good deed, the “general” had maneuvered himself into a position of seeming invulnerability. Out with the old boss, in with the new.
The point was and is that no one should be above the law. Not even the guy with the guns. The fact that this couldn’t be done on the “up and up” doesn’t by itself mean that it wasn’t a thing needed doing. No easy choices out there on the bitter end.
Will the lesson take?
Guess we’ll see.
It’s a wonder that these stories don’t make the headlines.
There may actually be a bit more support for this thing at home if people only knew more stories like this instead of the normal hack and slash news these days.
Lex,
Sorry, last post.
“By about noon, the JCC in Hit was getting reports that fliers were being distributed in Hit complaining that Hamid was selling insurgents back to the insurgency”
“Around 1300, two members of the Hit City Council arrived at the JCC demanding that the Coalition do something. If not, they feared that the people of Hit would take care of it. The people were saying clearly that they did not want to attack the police general, but enough was enough. A mob intent on lynching Hamid would surely confront an armed contingent of his supporters”
How do we go from flyers being distributed to a pro-coalition lynch mob (which, besides being statistically unlikely in Anbar, nobody saw)?
I think we’re being horribly manipulated by the LTC and Yon here via this story.
I’ll send a bottle of Jameson to SOPA@neptunuslex if the LTC avoids being relieved for cause by Christmas.
“We don’t always get the truth from friends and the enemy isn’t that reliable a source of lies” – probably me after a beer
Babs, quit wringing your hands, and show a little faith. There are a thousand Chrismans out there working tonight, while we sleep.
Jeez Rellag, “political prisoner”? Selling the bad guys their freedom is a hangin’ offense in my book. All the better if the locals want it to happen. The “General” stepped over the line, one too many times.
“…to arrest and deliver for execution…”
Rellag? Where did *that* come from?
As to the rule of law, I believe LTC Chrisman was following the rule of law — that is the rule of the cop on a beat.
What Chrisman had to relieve Hamid is probable cause. LTC had information based sources that indicated that Hamid was turning criminal or was criminal, he also had information and belief that Hamid was a danger to the citizens of the community as well as to US troops.
Therefore, LTC Chrisman acted on that probable cause and detained Hamid, for his own protection and that of the troops and the citizens.
I am sure an investigation will continue and determination on criminal activity will follow.
I been in the legal business for a long time and I beleive Chrisman acted properly and within the Rule of Law.
Hi SteveH, the quote is just under the fourth picture from the bottom.
“General Hamid was not actually a prisoner of war: his problems are with the Iraqi government, not with ours. Potentially, though, he could hang”
And Casca:
“There are weapons that are simply thoughts… to be found only in the minds of men…the thoughtless, frightened search for a scapegoat has a fallout all of its own”
- Rod Serling, “The Monsters are Due on Maple Street”
Submitted for your consideration.
Rellag-
It seems as though you read the whole article. Kind-of.
Now I have only read the article once, it usually doesn’t take much more than that, so please bear with me.
From what I understood, Hamid drove out the AQI with a big fist and came to local power. Then he became corrupt. Then the local people were extremely unhappy with what was going on. The local people put out fliers against Hamid. Hamid countered with fliers of his own. Then a daring move was made on the spot to prevent the surrounding people [all of whom were locked and loaded] from getting into a firefight with an almost mobile police force.
I’m not sure how you can misunderstand the story. It seems pretty clear to me. This was done for the people as a whole as to keep different factions in the area clean of the deed.
I don’t understand what you are trying to say, other than just randomly bashing.
Rellag,
Cop doesn’t need a warrant to arrest you, cop doesn’t need judiciary whatever to arrest you, cop doesn’t need indictment to arrest you. Cop only needs probable cause. Chrisman had that in spades. All that other stuff comes afterward.
If the good General (actually Colonel – and I like to pronounce it like LeBeau did on Hogan’s heroes..) did the things that Yon alleges than perhaps he does warrent the short drop with a sudden stop.
Good for you for going a wee bit against the grain though, I think we need a bit more of that here. Not as much fun when there are 36 replies and they are all basically “I agree.”
Good weekend to all.
Nose
Ah Rellag, that’s where you go off the rails. I suspect that Chrisman’s seach was niether “thoughtless” or “frightened”. It simply had a sense of urgency about it, as striking the iron while it is hot will.
Nose, I agree.
Hah! Touche, Unk
Unka, you rocka!
N
Nose and Lex and everyone,
Nothing personal in my comments. Just thought that a board frequented by a lot of 1120′s who made it through the aftermath of Fall 1991 might be a little slower to pull out the hanging rope on the basis of what a journalist wrote and some printed fliers of unknown provenance. Because, as you know, people have agendas, and its not always the good guys who win that kind of a fight.
Thus ends this week’s lesson in History and Moral Philosophy. Have a good weekend all.
sorry, got the designator code for aviator wrong. Too many years in CIVLANT. wasn’t accusing anyone of being a nuke.
You called me a nuke? That’s the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me. Thanks,
Nose
Heh, I like all you “Rule of Law” types, but bottom line, it’s all about justice.
Why Casca, its all about makin’ dayum sure they git a fair trail first…
If’n you take my meanin’
Great video BTW
Trial, that is
Oh Capt J, you were never schooled by the Company Gunny, or you’d know that fair is where they sell cotton candy.
I meant the Old West proverb, quoted to outlaws of all types back in the day:
“We’ll see that yuh git a fair trial –’fore we hang yuh!