By: Amie Parnes
Published: 05-28-08
As an Army fellow and legislative aide for Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) Colin Brooks offers the senator and senior staffers a unique perspective on the war in Iraq: his own.
The 33-year-old West Point graduate has served two tours of duty in Iraq first as Army Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno’s assault command post battle captain then as the leader of 145 soldiers in an area thick with insurgents.
Brooks said he learned about politics in Babil province an area south of Baghdad once riddled by roadside bombs gunfire and hatred. Sunnis and Shiites killed each other there he said over disputes that were often petty: fighting about a tractor over a woman or just because they could.
There Brooks — part soldier part politician — was trying to bring Sunni and Shiite tribal leaders together under extraordinary odds. “We were playing politics” Brooks said. “And the politics doesn’t get any more local than it does in Iraq.”
Now he plays on a different battlefield.
Last week Brooks helped prepare Cornyn for the Senate Armed Services Committee’s confirmation hearing for Army Gen. David Petraeus nominated by the president to become the next leader of the U.S. Central Command. When Cornyn addressed the Senate later that day about a GI benefits bill he voiced some of Brooks’ sentiments.
The army major also assisted the senator in crafting legislation that would speed up the process of mail-in military ballots a long-running problem for soldiers based overseas.
“Colin’s job is to arm the senator with facts” said Russ Thomasson Cornyn’s legislative director. “He helps give the senator the full picture and how certain decisions would adversely impact troops overseas and operations on the ground.”
Cornyn said Brooks is “someone who has not just read about Iraq but someone who’s served there and maintains current contacts with people who serve there.”
“He’s an invaluable asset to me as a senator doing my job” Cornyn said.
Brooks realizes what he brings to the table.
“Instead of being at the 30000-feet level I’m able to get and give the senator information on the ground level” he said.
Although Brooks said that he tries to remain apolitical he has told Cornyn again and again that he thinks conditions in Iraq are improving. He said he has seen it for himself.
In Babil province Sunnis and Shiites once spent their time “blowing up each other’s houses” Brooks said. But by the end of his second tour in Iraq Brooks had helped set up town council meetings where Sunni and Shiite tribal leaders got together over tea and ironed out their differences on electricity sewage and water issues.
“We said ‘Hey everything aside whether you disagree with America about the war or not what are you guys struggling with?’” Brooks recalled telling the leaders. “We took these guys that have been killing each other for generations and had them work out their disputes peacefully.”
While in Iraq Brooks worked to set up two agriculture unions and helped them hold elections for a union director in which both Sunnis and Shiites participated. He also helped train an Iraq army battalion and said he now hears of training successes from friends who are still there.
Brooks said that “there’s a lot of good that’s being done” in Iraq now that “the surge has achieved its objective” and that “victory can be on the horizon for us.”
He is aware of the cost. He remembers explosive devices striking his military vehicle hard enough to blow the tires and shatter the windshield. He thinks about the times he was kicking down doors on risky nighttime raids when he and his fellow soldiers were ducking from round after round of gunfire.
He is haunted by the deaths of two of his soldiers.
Brooks said that the United States “undoubtedly” still has “a long way to go” in Iraq but he’s adamant that the road is worth traveling. “We have to finish the fight” he said.
The son of a lawyer and Protestant pastor Brooks decided to join the Army when he was in high school in Cleveland. “I’ve always liked being a part of something that’s bigger than me” he said.
Although he was inspired by his grandfather a patrol torpedo boat commander in the Navy he enrolled at West Point. After graduating in 1997 he served in a variety of infantry duty positions as a platoon leader based at Fort Bragg N.C. Meanwhile he got married and had two children.
Then came Sept. 11 2001. “That changed everything” he said.
Brooks served in Iraq in 2003 and 2004 and then again in 2006. When he came back the second time he started to think about the next assignment after command.
He decided to apply for the Army fellowship in Cornyn’s office because he craved knowledge of policy and the Texas senator’s views on the war aligned with his own.
“The senator is a steadfast supporter of the troops and the mission” Brooks said. “He knows a precipitous withdrawal would lead to chaos in the region. He gets it.”
During his time on Capitol Hill Brooks has been impressed with the political process. “The folks here have good intentions” he said. “They’re trying to do the right thing.”
He remembered the first time he went to the Senate floor with Cornyn to hear him speak about staying the course in Iraq.
“That was the moment it struck me” Brooks said. “The senator was translating the emotional investment I had in Iraq and was putting it to paper. He gave voice to my concerns.”
Still Brooks has no plans to stay in politics once his fellowship ends.
“This experience has made me a well-rounded individual” he said “but my aspirations aren’t political. My passion is leading troops.”
