North County Times November 25, 2010
MILITARY: Former Rep. Duncan Hunter's book claims 'Victory in Iraq'
By Mark Walker
Former U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter says the U.S. military didn't fail in its mission in Iraq - to topple the regime of Saddam Hussein and suppress the insurgency that arose in the aftermath.
The government, he said, never suggested a perfect future for the country.
But it did win the war, the 2008 Republican presidential candidate asserts in his recently published book, "Victory in Iraq: How America Won."
Hunter, 62, says he wrote the 393-page book over an 18-month period after leaving Congress in January 2009, when his son by the same name succeeded him in the 52nd Congressional District seat that includes portions of North County.
The defense hawk and former chairman of the House Armed Services Committee from 2003 to 2007 used his contacts in the Marine Corps and throughout the military to write the book.
It's replete with criticisms of media coverage of the war contrasted with stories of valor and inventiveness by individual troops and units from the invasion in 2003 until the withdrawal of Marine forces in early 2009.
And Hunter is unabashed about the title.
"When the first 2,000 books from the publisher arrived, the driver of the truck that delivered them asked what it was about," Hunter said during an interview. "I told him the title and he said, 'You mean we won?' That's a good illustration of why I wrote it."
'A volatile part of world'
On Sept. 1, President Barack Obama stopped short of declaring victory when he spoke to the nation about the end of U.S. troops taking the lead in any combat operations in Iraq.
Despite nearly 50,000 U.S. troops remaining in Iraq to help keep the peace, bomb attacks and strife between Sunnis and Shiites remain.
The war called Operation Iraqi Freedom by the Pentagon has resulted in the deaths of 4,408 U.S. troops with an additional 31,394 injured, according to the Defense Department.
The Pentagon has renamed Operation Iraqi Freedom to Operation New Dawn to signify the changed U.S. role. Since the change, nine U.S. service members have been killed in Iraq and 63 wounded through Nov. 10, according to the Defense Department statistics.
Hunter argues the continuing violence doesn't mean the war hasn't been won.
"No one knows what is going to happen in five or 10 years," said Hunter, whose sons Sam and Duncan D. also each served combat tours in Iraq. "People talk about what ifs, what if a new strongman like Saddam arises or there is an invasion by the Iranians?
"Iraq is in a volatile part of the world and you can keel over from the hundreds of possible scenarios speculating as to what might happen."
'Reluctant to acknowledge victory'
John Pike, founder of the military monitoring group GlobalSecurity.org in Washington, said he believes Hunter is right in concluding that the U.S. won the war.
"We basically declared victory at the end of last year" Pike said, adding that reaching definitive conclusions is often subject to debate.
"We're still arguing about the Civil War," he said.
Hunter said he intended to tell the story of how the military defeated Hussein's army and the subsequent insurgency.
"Since the end of World War II, we as a nation have been reluctant to acknowledge victory," Hunter said in interview last week.
America did not interpret the domination of eastern Europe by the Soviet Union after World War II as a loss, he says.
"The point I'm trying to make is that it is not fair to the Americans who served in and won that war and left a trail of blood across Europe," said Hunter, an Army veteran who spent 28 years in the House of Representatives. "We didn't hold that against the American GI at the end of World War II, and by the same token, it's not fair to deny recognition to those who achieved victory in Iraq."
A family of warriors
The book opens and closes with stories about Marine Lt. Gen. John Kelly and his family's involvement in the war. Kelly led Camp Pendleton troops in the volatile Anbar province during the height of the war.
Hunter also writes of Kelly's two Marine sons and their experiences in Iraq. On Nov. 9, two days before the book was released, one of those sons, 1st Lt. Robert Kelly, was killed by small arms fire while leading a foot patrol in Afghanistan.
Hunter said he strongly believes that the sacrifices of the Kellys and the more than 1 million U.S. troops who served in Iraq need more recognition of their service despite the uncertainty of Iraq's future.
Despite the lack of the weapons of mass destruction that the Bush administration insisted Hussein had to justify the invasion, Iraq has been changed for the better, Hunter argued.
"We have brought freedom to 25 million people and the government we built has held," he said.
The book is available through Amazom.com for $19.95.
It also can be purchased at area Borders bookstores, where Hunter will conduct signings. He's scheduled to be at the Gaslamp Borders in San Diego starting at 9 a.m. Friday and at National City at 3 p.m.
He's also scheduled to sign at the Borders in Carmel Mountain starting at noon Sunday and at in Mission Valley at 3 p.m.
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