Cliff Buchan
News Editor

Winning the hearts and minds of citizens in Iraq is a job that will require the power of positive psychology.

In the view of Jim Noll, a Forest Lake resident and educator here, a big step was taken last weekend with what is being called a successful first election that likely attracted more than 8 million voters.

It was a positive step and one that he says will go far in fighting a psychological battle with insurgents who are attempting to wear down the American will to continue its efforts and turn more Iraqi citizens against the occupying forces in the U.S.-led coalition.

For Noll, the region and the power of psychological ways are no strangers.

Retired from the military as a full colonel, Noll was on active duty with the Armyís 13th Psychological Battalion from Fort Snelling during the first Gulf War. He led psychological operations that targeted Iraqi troops and the civilian population and later was an oversee of prisoner of war camps following the removal of Iraqi forces from Kuwait.

Now looking from afar, Noll is an observer who likes much of what he is seeing in Iraq, but as a former military leader, he is troubled by other aspects of the events in the days since U.S.-led troops pushed dictator Saddam Hussein from power.

Much to do

Last weekendís successful election that will name an interim national assembly was the first major step in the rebuilding of Iraq, he says.

But more key jobs remain ó the drafting of a constitution, citizen approval of the document at an election and the eventual election of a formal national assembly and prime minister, Noll says.

ìThere are many positives that are happening,î he said. ìSchools and hospitals are being built. Roads are being built and many Iraqis are seeing new water and sanitation systems,î he says.

ìThatís not the stuff that is getting into the newspapers,î Noll said. ìItís the dramatic that is being emphasized.î

As a Vietnam and Gulf War veteran, Noll knows what makes news and the tragic death of even one U.S. soldier is going to make print or the evening news.

And Noll knows it is all part of the psychological war that insurgents will continue to wage for many months to come.

ìItís all fear,î he said. ìItís all terror. Thatís war.î

Disappointments

As a private citizen today with some insight on what has happened in Iraq, Noll says the U.S. made huge missteps in the days following the capture of Baghdad and carrying out the occupation.

The early decision to disband all divisions of the Iraqi military and the prison abuse scandal have proved particularly costly to the effort, he said.

The military, which he calls the finest in the history of the country, made its splendid drive through Iraq with skill and precision. But the inability to control borders and utilize any Iraqi troops to help the cause proved harmful, Noll said.

And when the prisoner of war abuse scandal exploded last year, hardline militants who had melted into the Iraqi population had new reason to join the insurgency, Noll said.

During Nollís war stint in Kuwait and later Iraq in 1991, as many as 86,000 Iraqi POWs were under his care and control.

After studying the abuse scandal, Noll said ìit drove me up the wallî to see the tactics.

ìIn Desert Storm we did it 180 degrees different from what they did this time,î Noll said. Iraqis surrendering in the first Gulf War did so with the ìexpectationî of proper treatment from Americans, Noll said.

ìThe damage done to the U.S. is incalculable,î he said.

Because of the abuse scandal it may now prove more difficult to get insurgents to surrender let alone quit fighting, he says.

ìIt boosts the insurgency,î Noll said. ìIt was used as a tremendous recruitment tool for terrorists.î

With no military job and their homeland facing occupation, many turned against the coalitionís efforts, Noll offered. ìThey have no jobs. Theyíre disgruntled. These were the hard core fighters, the tough guys.î

More tough days

With the insurgents still a viable underground force, Noll expects more tough days ahead. He knows the attacks will continue and the U.S. death toll will continue to rise above the 1400 total.

For sake of stability in the region and the ongoing world stage confrontation with terrorists, Noll believes the effort is necessary.

He hopes the military and the government will learn from past mistakes and that the American public will not lose faith in the cause.

As a man trained in the refinements of psychology, Noll also knows that philosophy is an important consideration.

ìEvery war changes,î Noll said. ìWorld War II changed. It was a different military after four years. It was the same in Vietnam.î

If there is a major military shortcoming, Noll said it comes in how a war is engaged. ìWe try to fight it like the last war we had been in.î

The defeat and capture of Saddam was a good first step, he says. The rebuilding of Iraq is an appropriate second step that continues to make progress with the final measure the steps to exit the country.

ìWe have all the assets we need to do this,î he said. Training a competent Iraqi force is job one, he adds.

In doing so, the U.S. government must deal with its role as an occupier of Iraq while facing political heat at home. ìPolitically, itís tough to stay the course (at home),î Noll said, pointing to the lessons of Vietnam.

ìOur government needs to do a better job of explaining where we are and where we are going,î he adds.

If the long-range effort is successful, Iraq will become a stable, autonomous country in the region that will offer basic human rights to its citizens and be able to deliver its most prized natural resource ó oil ó to the world market.

While the U.S. oil supply from Iraq is minimal, Noll says the benefit to the U.S. falls in the world economy and western nations that depend on Iraq oil. ìItís all within the world economic system ó the countries we trade with,î he said.

The inherent danger, he says, is a factional civil war that could result in a weaker Iraq that could fall part and parcel to a neighbor like Iran.

Noll hopes for the former.

ìHow do we define a win? he asks. How do we define any war?î

In the view of a man who has seen the power of positive persuasion, it can be achieved in part through good deeds that win the hearts and minds of people who want to be free, free of dictators or any occupying nation.

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