IRAQ: Marines as ‘ugly’ Americans

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One of the books on the Marine Corps reading list is ‘The Ugly American,’ the runaway 1958 bestseller by William J. Lederer and Eugene Burdick that was turned into a so-so movie with Marlon Brando.

One of the Marines who has read it closely is Lt. Col. William F. McCollough, the Corps’ liaison with the Sunni tribes of Fallouja. The book could be a manual for what to do and what not to do in winning a counterinsurgency, he said.

First, like several generations of high school English teachers, McCollough notes that the title is ironic.

The true ugly American, he notes, is not the loud, know-it-all type in the book who prefers big-ticket, headline-grabbing projects but a plain-faced engineer who works closely with the local population, tries to build trust and then prefers small projects where the locals have a ‘buy-in.’ Because of his approach he was shunned by other Americans.

The Iraqis, like the fictional Sarkhanese, immediately know when an American isn’t really listening, McCollough said. ‘They can spot a faker at a thousand yards.’

The goal of the Marines, like the fictional engineer Homer Atkins, is to build the confidence of the local population to solve their own problems with some American help. ‘We’re a little more hands-off’ with each month, McCollough said.

— Tony Perry in Fallouja