Interview with Col (Ret.) Scott Thein

Colonel (Ret.) Scott Thein served in Iraq from September 2003 through March 2004 as the Division Artillery commander with the 82nd Airborne. He worked primarily at the provincial level and his area of operations was Al Anbar Province. One of the first things he sought to accomplish was to rebuild mosques and schools in an effort to provide “an immediate return and some immediate kind of reaction from the Sunnis where they felt we were helping them.” Another challenge he faced was inadequate funds and stretching the money they were allocated as far as it would go. Thein also spoke of the importance of his soldiers conducting themselves positively as a means of reaching out to the Iraqis and breaking through the cultural barriers. He stated that it was a priority for them to go out every day and do something nice for an Iraqi, so that the good deed would be talked about and positive words about Americans would be shared and spread quickly by word of mouth. Thein mentioned how the troop rotations could negatively impact the mission in Iraq because relationships of trust with Iraqi leaders and citizens are a critical factor to success, and every time new troops come in those relationships must be rebuilt. Thein also related the story of General Abed Hamed Mowhoush who came forward to work with the US but later was detained and killed. Thein commented that the effect of that was that no other Iraqi general officer ever came forward to work with the Americans during Thien’s time there. In addition, Thein commented on the disbanding of the Iraqi Army and how that affected their morale. He said it made them feel disenfranchised. At the conclusion of the interview, Thein stressed the importance of the information operations (IO) campaign, particularly in how one bad deed would not be forgotten no matter how many good deeds had made up for it. He stressed the importance of being respectful towards the Iraqi people as the only way to earn their trust and confidence.