Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win

of the room in agreement.
“Well, let me ask you something,” I continued. “If the Iraqi military
can’t get to a point where they can handle security in their own country,
who is going to do it?”
The room fell silent. I drove the point home by restating the
question: “I say again, if the Iraqi military can’t handle the security in
this country, who is going to do it?” I had their attention, and they knew
the answer. But to ensure everyone clearly understood the strategic
importance of why we were being directed to do this, I made it perfectly
clear: “If Iraqi soldiers can’t do it, there is only one group that will—us.
If we don’t get these guys up to speed we will have this mission next
year and the year after and the year after. The U.S. military will be stuck
here for generations. It will be up to our sons and our sons’ sons to
secure Iraq.”
I could see that, although there was still resistance to the idea of
working with Iraqi soldiers, they were beginning to see this mission
from a strategic perspective.
I continued: “Like you, I understand that no matter how much we
train them, the Iraqi Army will never come close to achieving the
standards we set for ourselves. But we will help them get better. And
there is something else we can do to help them. We will close with and
destroy the enemy on the streets of Ramadi to reduce the insurgents’
military capability and lower the level of violence. When the enemy is
beaten, then the Iraqi Army can take over security duties for
themselves.”
I saw some heads nod in agreement.
“But to do that,” I said, “we have to get each mission—each
operation—approved. And if we want our missions approved, we must