Dan Rather TIKRIT, Iraq:
THE MOTTO is posted everywhere that the 101st Airborne Division eats, sleeps and works: "We are in a race to win over the people. What have you and your element done today to contribute to victory?"
At night, the storied Screaming Eagles fight. Armed with infrared-sensing goggles, radar and an array of high-tech weaponry, the United States military owns the dark. Here in the so-called Sunni Triangle, the 101st, the 4th Infantry Division, Special Forces and others conduct their raids, big and small, in the hours after the sun sets. In strict military terms, this is not "major combat." But combat it is, and that is how the soldiers involved see it, experience it and talk about it.
Then, with the arrival of daylight, these same soldiers, still in full combat fatigues, become nation-builders for an occupying force. Their transformation, and the effort they put into both daytime and night-time tasks, is impressive, if not awe-inspiring. And driving this effort is the sense, expressed in the motto and echoed up and down the ranks, that they are in a race against time.
Last week, Sen. John McCain, speaking of Iraq, said that "if we don't turn things around in the next few months, we are facing a very serious long-term problem." Implicit in this statement is the senator's view that the current forces in Iraq are not sufficient for accomplishing the task at hand, but whether or not one agrees with that assessment, it is clear that we have arrived at a crucial hour in the U.S. occupation and rebuilding effort.
The Americans in uniform here know that troop rotations are scheduled for this coming March. After that, no one can be certain what the shape, size and scope of the U.S. military involvement will be. But individually and collectively, the push to "contribute to victory" is felt to take place under a ticking clock.
NOTABLE SUCCESSES
In the Sunni Triangle, of which Tikrit forms the rough apex, this attitude has contributed to some notable successes in rounding up wanted members of Saddam Hussein's regime, though Saddam himself has so far eluded the best efforts of U.S. forces. This is also where American soldiers have taken the bulk of their post-war casualties. Speaking broadly, this region north and west of Baghdad has been the problem area, compared with the Kurdish north and the predominantly Shiite south.
But recent events have made it clear that the Sunni Triangle is not the only part of Iraq where the clock is ticking. The terrorist car bombing in the Shiite holy city of Najaf killed nearly 100 people, including a prominent Shiite cleric who had taken a moderate, wait-and-see approach to the U.S. presence. The anti-American slogans and sentiments that followed this cleric's funeral procession made it clear that this is a key moment in relations with Iraq's Shiite majority, as well as its Sunni minority. The U.S. occupying force must now contend with new calls for increased security in the south, while bracing itself for a round of finger-pointing that, in the worst case, could lead to internecine Shiite fighting or civil war between Shiites and Sunnis.
Under the burning sun, where the fight is for Iraqi hearts and minds, and under cover of night, where the battle is joined with live ammunition, U.S. soldiers are engaged in nation-building while they fight a guerrilla war. In the hostile territory of the Sunni Triangle, the identity of the enemy is not always clear. But here, and elsewhere in Iraq, time is one enemy that is easy to recognise.
Dan Rather is a television news anchor. Copyright 2003 DJR Inc. Distributed by King Features indicate.
