Utah soldiers watching Obama on wars
They're uncertain how effective new president will be
By Stephen Speckman
Deseret News
Sgt. Michael Green wants President Barack Obama to focus on human intelligence in Afghanistan, taking the needed time and tapping into the right military talent pool to dig for information from Afghani locals on where the "bad guys" are before sending in more troops to use force.
Green, 25, served with the Utah National Guard in Afghanistan from September 2003 to May 2004, with the 19th Special Forces Group. His job was to find the so-called bad guys.
"I'm not sure what is going to happen with the new administration coming in," said Green, now a student at Utah State University. "I don't know how much they'll support intelligence operations to find these guys."
Lt. Brent Taylor hopes Obama doesn't pull too many troops out of Iraq too soon. Taylor, 29, served nearly 16 months in Iraq with the Utah National Guard on a tour he voluntarily extended by about six months. He returned safely last month to his wife, Jennie, and their two children in North Ogden.
"We don't need to stay there 10 years longer," Taylor said Wednesday. "I would think less than three years, for sure."
Green and Taylor are representative of the balancing act Obama will face as he decides how to move forward in Iraq and Afghanistan, each with mounting death tolls. Today, Obama plans to begin receiving daily top-secret intelligence briefings.
But Iraqi officials don't expect Obama to orchestrate a hasty withdrawal from Iraq, The Associated Press reported Wednesday. The officials anticipate Obama will make good on his word to consult with U.S. commanders and Iraqi officials on the ground in Iraq before making a decision on a war that is costing U.S. taxpayers $12 billion a month.
The latest Defense Department figures show that the Iraq war so far has resulted in 4,190 U.S. military deaths since 2003, while the Afghanistan war has claimed the lives of 626 U.S. service members since 2001. At least 48 people with Utah ties have died while serving in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, according to Deseret News records.
While the U.S. economy was chiefly on the minds of most voters Tuesday, polls showed that some people made their choice based on the candidates' strategy for Iraq and Afghanistan.
Dell Smith took a broader approach to deciding which candidate might be more military friendly. Smith, 57, spent 36 years in the Utah Guard, three of those decades full-time, retiring last February as a command sergeant major and the state's senior enlisted man. He visited Utah soldiers and airmen twice in Iraq, once in Kuwait and two times in Afghanistan, making sure they were getting what they needed.
Smith, who voted for McCain, is worried Obama will do something "silly" and cut too deeply into military budgets, which he said will impact whether Guard units have money to replace equipment beaten down by years of use overseas.
Green said simply boosting troop totals in Afghanistan without an emphasis on military intelligence gathering would be "ineffective and a waste of time."
Taylor said planning U.S. strategy in Iraq will require Obama to meet with leadership in Iraq before implementing any significant troop drawdown.
Taylor, who received a Purple Heart for an injury he sustained in a roadside bomb attack, has seen the violent tide change in Iraq. He started his tour near Mosul in northern Iraq and ended it working with Iraqi intelligence officials in Baghdad's relatively safe Green Zone.
He compared the election process and peaceful transfer of power here with the disorder he witnessed in Iraq.
"Overall, I think it shows why the U.S. is a great country," Taylor said Wednesday. "Iraq gave me a greater appreciation for (our) system."
