Iraq War veterans see Trump’s travel ban as harmful to U.S., Iraqi troops Trump move seen as a boon to ISIS

When President Donald Trump signed an executive order that imposed a temporary ban on travelers entering the U.S. from Iraq and six other predominantly Muslim nations, the move reminded Alex Almanza of another president’s fateful decision.

In 2008, five years into the Iraq War, President George W. Bush declared U.S. forces would withdraw from the country by the end of 2011. The news came during Almanza’s second tour in Iraq with the Army and elicited a bemused reaction from Iraqi soldiers.

“I remember them feeling a sense of betrayal,” said Almanza, 48, who retired from the military in 2013 and lives in Edinburg. “You could see it in their eyes: ‘Everything we’ve been doing is for nothing.’”

Military veterans in South Texas who trained Iraqi troops warned of similar and potentially lasting effects from Trump’s actions, even after a federal judge’s ruling last week suspended the travel order. (An appeals court heard arguments Tuesday and will decide whether to keep or lift the injunction.)

Those who served in Iraq contend the ban and the president’s anti-Islamic rhetoric could erode the resolve of Iraqi troops, deter civilians from cooperating with government forces and supply fresh recruiting fodder for terror groups.

Almanza, who first deployed to Iraq in 2003, recalled the early efforts of U.S. troops to build up the country’s military during the eight-year war. The Americans taught Iraqi soldiers how to fire artillery, set up checkpoints and conduct raids, and the daily interaction forged a kinship born of common purpose.

“The Iraqis who fought beside us were just as important to me as my guys,” he said. “They were willing to die right beside us. That’s the kind of commitment that can only come from hope. But if we’re now telling them that they’re not welcome in our country, it gives them more reason to doubt our commitment. It will dampen their hope.”

‘Messing with their trust’

The U.S. military has 5,000 troops in Iraq to assist the country’s armed forces fighting Islamic State, or ISIS, with most acting as advisers.

Cesar Gutierrez, a Marine veteran of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, asserted that Trump has disregarded the sacrifices of Iraqi soldiers, interpreters and civilian personnel and the hazards they continue to face working with U.S. troops.

“They chose to fight alongside us to defeat the enemy,” said Gutierrez, 31, who lives in San Antonio. “They were very nervous about patrols — not because they weren’t willing to fight, but because they were alongside Americans. That alone put a price on their heads.”

Training Iraqi forces required Americans to confront cultural and language barriers. Discussions with soldiers and local civilian leaders gave Gutierrez an understanding of the country and its people, and he criticized Trump’s travel order as rooted in ignorance.

“You have to earn their trust and respect. Once you do, they’re with you all the way,” he said. “But what the ban does is label all Iraqis as the same. We’re now messing with their trust — with an entire nation’s trust, a nation that we’ve fought for for many years — and that’s going to undo a lot of what we’ve been trying to accomplish.”

A desire to bridge the divide between Americans and Iraqis motivated Ibrahim Eesa, a native of Baghdad, to serve as an interpreter for U.S. troops from 2007 to 2009. He received refugee status a year later and arrived in San Antonio, where he now works as a medical support assistant at the Audie Murphy Veterans Affairs Hospital and belongs to the Texas National Guard.

“I wanted to educate Americans about the Iraqi people, and I wanted to explain to Iraqis what the soldiers were doing so they would know what was happening in their neighborhoods,” said Eesa, 29, who became a U.S. citizen four years ago. “I wanted to be that connection.”

Given that he risked his life on behalf of Americans in Iraq, Eesa finds Trump’s harsh attitude toward Muslims at once insulting and frustrating.

“I feel betrayed. Not by the American people; by the new president,” he said. “Muslims are tired of being labeled terrorists. We want the same things as everyone else: a safe life, jobs, a good economy.”

‘Makes us go backward’

The U.S. military invoked a Vietnam-era mantra of “winning hearts and minds” in Iraq and Afghanistan. Mike Allen served two tours in Iraq during a 20-year Army career, and he insisted that the perils of the mission remain unchanged under Trump.

“There’s no way to make the job any more difficult,” said Allen, 44, the coordinator of the Crossroads Area Veterans Center in Victoria. “Terrorists are driven by ideology, not some silly policy the U.S. puts in place.”

But Eddie Rodriguez, who deployed to Iraq with the Marines in 2007 as part of the troop surge that reversed the gains of insurgent groups, faulted Trump for further endangering American forces in combat zones.

“It’s easy for politicians to do this kind of thing because they’re not the ones who are shaking hands with the people who live in these countries,” said Rodriguez, 30, a social worker and veterans advocate in San Antonio. “The troops have to do that. What he’s doing is contradicting everything we’ve been trying to do, and it feeds into the propaganda of radical terrorist groups.”

Trump’s blunt statements about Islam, as much as his executive order, stoke a perception of Americans as hostile toward Muslims. Navy veteran Jeff Hensley, who deployed to Iraq in 2006 as part of a civil affairs team, predicted the president’s tone will dissuade civilians there from aiding U.S. and Iraqi forces.

“The biggest effect may be on the ordinary people who have been watching the war for years,” said Hensley, 53, who runs an equine therapy program for veterans in Wylie. “They may not become jihadists. But they’re definitely not going to trust us or work with us.”

In addition to Iraq, Trump’s executive order named Syria, Iran, Libya, Yemen, Somalia and Sudan. U.S. Rep. Will Hurd, R-San Antonio, a former undercover CIA officer assigned to the Middle East and South Asia, pointed out that American forces need the support of local populations to combat radical Islamist groups.

Trump’s order “makes us go backward, and it erodes trust,” said Hurd, a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. “And you need trust in your friends and allies, especially against a threat like Islamic terrorism.”

Postings on pro-ISIS social media accounts in the wake of Trump’s order called it a “blessed ban” and suggested it would bolster the group’s recruiting. Paul Miller, associate director of the Clements Center for National Security at the University of Texas at Austin, noted the fallout could complicate U.S. intelligence gathering in the seven countries.

“Virtually anything the U.S. does is twisted for jihadist propaganda,” said Miller, a former Army and CIA intelligence analyst. “In this case, the Trump administration made the jihadists’ job a little easier by announcing a poorly written and hastily developed policy with obvious and glaring flaws and rolling it out in an especially hack-handed way.”

During his two tours, Almanza recalled, Iraqi troops withstood pressure from insurgent groups to shed their uniforms. He expects the coercion to intensify even if the travel ban remains suspended.

“The soldiers we worked with got recruited by terrorist groups, but they did not turn, partly because they trusted us,” he said. “But now, al-Qaida and ISIS and other groups will come after them harder than ever. And if they go to the other side, then in a sense we’ll have been training ISIS fighters.”

mkuz@express-news.net

Twitter: @MartinKuz