J. Pepper Bryars > Quotes

“Members were expected to recruit children … party members were required to spy on their family, friends, neighbors—and fellow Baathists. These dehumanizing practices,”
― J. Pepper Bryars, American Warfighter: Brotherhood, Survival, and Uncommon Valor in Iraq, 2003-2011

“Many of the “jundis”—Arabic for soldier— were notoriously unreliable when placed with units that didn’t know how to properly train or command them. Chris Kyle wrote in his autobiography that the Iraqi soldiers he encountered were often “pathetic” and sometimes even placed the mission at risk. “As fighters went, they sucked,” Kyle wrote. “The brightest Iraqis, it seemed, were usually insurgents fighting against us. I guess most of our jundis had their hearts in the right place, but as far as proficient military fighting went, let’s just say they were incompetent, if not outright dangerous.” Thankfully the Green Berets were experts at training and fielding foreign fighters, and they often had the best of the Iraqis to work with.”
― J. Pepper Bryars, American Warfighter: Brotherhood, Survival, and Uncommon Valor in Iraq, 2003-2011