Surge in Iraq

Pastor Alan Hardy was in Iraq in 2004.  He talked about the “surge” in Iraq where 20,000 troops were sent to Baghdad and 4,000 to Anbar province.  The surge represented a total top-to bottom change in U.S. military leadership over the war.

Iraq is a diverse country.  They speak 5 different languages and consist of three main groups of disparate people, the Shi'ite, Sunni, and the Kurds.  The Sunni is the largest denomination of Islam and the Shi'ite are the second largest.  The Shi'ite are mainly in the Southern part of the country and are affiliated with Iran.  The Kurds are an ethnic group of people in the North-eastern part of Iraq, in Iran, and in Turkey.

Winston Churchill was instrumental in creating Iraq.  It is not a natural country, created along political or ideological lines.  Therefore, there will probably always be political problems.  However, if the country were divided along natural ideological lines, there could be civil war throughout the region.  The Kurds would want their own country, drawing in Iran and Turkey.

Pastor Hardy enlisted in the military on 29 August 1978 as a cannoneer.  In 1996 he became a member of the “Religious Intelligence”.  He retired in 2005 at the rank of Lt. Col after 27 years in the military.