|
—"A
Soldier's Dream: Captain Travis Patriquin and the
Awakening of Iraq," by William Doyle; NAL Caliber
(336 pages, $25.95)
———
Neither
man was senior in his realm: a U.S. Army captain with a
civil affairs group and a Sunni sheik of a middling
tribe.
Both had
elders of greater authority above them. To their critics
and rivals, the two men were opportunists with outsized
egos.
And yet,
it is now clear that Capt. Travis Patriquin and Sheik
Sattar abu Risha were major figures in the amazingly
quick evolution of Iraq's Anbar province from a
"lost cause" al-Qaida stronghold in 2006 to a
shining example by mid-2007 of the U.S. military and
Sunni tribes teaming up to thwart the insurgency.
That's
the compelling story of "A Soldier's Dream: Captain
Travis Patriquin and the Awakening of Iraq" by
veteran journalist William Doyle, a carefully reported
and briskly written account that is strong in its thesis
but even-handed in dealing with discordant notes.
Doyle's
book is a tale of how even in modern warfare, with all
its cultural intricacies and geopolitical
considerations, two men can play a decisive role through
dint of personality, adept maneuvering and, yes, a fair
amount of individual ambition.
Patriquin,
with service in Afghanistan and, with the Special Forces
in South America, was a rarity among officers: an Arab
linquist with a genuine interest and respect for Arab
culture. He was willing to do combat with his enemy on
the battlefield and with opponents inside the military
bureaucracy.
Sattar
was a businessman, cunning and ruthless — Tony Soprano
in Arab garb. His grandfather had fought the British.
Sattar had a lean, wolfish look; he knew how to handle
an AK-47 and an Internet search engine. He boldly told
reporters he wanted to meet with President George W.
Bush.
Over
enormous amounts of sweet tea and far too many
cigarettes, Patriquin and Sattar formed an alliance of
convenience. The sheik came to an ideology-free
calculation: al-Qaida was bad for business and the best
way to rid Anbar of the insurgency was a partnership
with the Americans.
Doyle
does not oversell his main characters. Patriquin was not
the first American officer to reach out to the Sunni
sheiks in Anbar. Sattar was not the first sheik in the
province to stand up to al-Qaida.
But the
two men and their moment coalesced.
One of
the fascinating stories embedded in "A Soldier's
Dream," is an account of a battle in late November
2006 outside the provincial capital of Ramadi. U.S.
forces, with Patriquin on the phone to Sattar and other
tribal leaders promising support, reinforced tribal
fighters who were battling with a massed al-Qaida force.
The fight
at Shark Fin Peninsula on the Euphrates River proved to
the tribes that the Americans were worthy partners who
would not abandon them. Sattar's stature rose
considerably with the other sheiks.
Patriquin
and Sattar are the focus of "A Soldier's
Dream" but there are other officers and sheiks of
note: then-Col. Sean MacFarland and Lt. Col. Jim Lechner,
both of whom took a chance on the upstart Patriquin;
Col. Chuck Ferry, who led the American assault when the
sheiks' troops were attacked by al-Qaida; and Sheik
Jassim, the tribal commander during the battle.
On Nov.
6, 2006, Patriquin was killed by a roadside bomb that
exploded beneath his Humvee. And on Sept. 18, 2007, 10
days after he met with Bush in Iraq, Sattar was
assassinated at his compound.
But the
Anbar Awakening was firmly established and outlived both
the tribal sheik and the ever-cheerful American officer.
The long-term future of Anbar, indeed all of Iraq, is
still in doubt, Doyle writes, but this unique
partnership provided breathing space for the Iraqis to
establish a post-Saddam future.
"Through
an accident of history," Doyle writes, "Patriquin
was placed unusually close to the absolute center of the
action, wound up as a key cog in the machine, and by
most accounts played his role brilliantly."
———
|
