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A few weeks ago, Bobby Charles made the statement: “I trained the Iraqi police and the Afghan police.” I realize every politician indulges in self aggrandizement on the campaign trail, but this one is beyond the pale to me.
Yes, he ran a State Department program of debatable usefulness. However, most of the training of Iraqi and Afghan security forces was carried out by the U.S. military. My good friend with the U.S. Army’s 80th Division and the Iraq Assistance Group (which did most of the work with the Iraqi Army, Federal Polic, and their border enforcement) ran an Iraqi battalion, including during the Second Battle of Fallujah, and he does not recall Bobby Charles’ name.
My unit was located with the Iraqi police at Joint Security Site Nasr Wal Salam, and neither Bobby Charles nor his State Department program ever came up. The Army in particular used its earned experience to create the new Security Force Assistance Brigade formations.
The bottom line is Charles’ claims are an insult to the men and women of the military who did the hard work of training Iraqi and Afghan security forces. The last thing I think we need in the Blaine House is another low-rung, former bureaucrat who inflates his resume and takes credit for the work of others while he sat in a D.C. office. That he feels comfortable staking a claim on efforts that were not his is deeply troubling to me.
Bobby Charles should apologize to the men and women of the U.S. military for thieving their valor.
Brian Kresge
Winterport
