Colonel Nathan Sassaman -- Mini Biography
By
George Mitrovich
Nathan Sassaman was a star quarterback at West Point and led the Army team to one of its most successful seasons in the post Red Blake, Doc Blanchard, Glenn Davis era. In the 1980s, with Nate Sassaman at quarterback, the Army team won seven games. That season he ran for more than 1,000 yards. In the Navy game, the defining game for both service academies, he scored two touchdowns as Army won. Subsequently the Black Knights of the Hudson won their first bowl game ever.
His remarkable leadership skills and athletic ability on the football field, however, were secondary to his success as a cadet. Nathan Sassaman was on the fast track to becoming a General in the United States Army. Then he was called to duty in Iraq.
Recently, in The New York Times Sunday Magazine, Dexter Filkins, a Times correspondent based in Baghdad, wrote an exhaustive article about Colonel Sassaman. It was one of the longest articles I have ever read in that magazine. I was deeply fascinated by Mr. Filkins account -- and especially his portrayal of Colonel Sassaman. (Colonel Sassaman`s photo was featured on the magazine`s cover. He and his family, as seen above, were also photographed for the story.)
In the course of his time in Iraq, the Colonel and his soldiers, who had been called to fight a war and win, which they did, suddenly found themselves charged with the daunting challenge of bringing democracy to both Sunni and Shiite -- a people embracing one religion but in every other way mortal enemies. Colonel Sassaman gave superb leadership, both militarily and as the sole civilian/military authority over an area comprising 300 square miles. He was asked to control this vast area with only 800 men. In war stuff happens, and an incident occurred in Iraq that would bring about Colonel Sassaman`s taking leave of an Army career that many people saw as one of unlimited possibilities. That`s the story Mr. Filkins tells in The Times. I quote here one brief extract from that story (the story in full appears below):
"The events that would end the career of one of the Army`s most celebrated midlevel officers sent a shock through the American force in Iraq. It is only now, with the Army`s investigation complete and Sassaman`s career over, that the story can be pieced together from interviews with him, his comrades and the Iraqis. Twenty-two months after that night on the Tigris, it is a tale that seems like a parable of the dark passage that lay ahead for the Americans in Iraq."
Having read the story I determined to contact Colonel Sassaman. I wanted to explore te possibility of his speaking to The Forum, of his telling his story about his experiences in Iraq -- what he saw, what he learned, what he regrets, and to tell us in his own words what he feels about the War in Iraq?
The Colonel has agreed to do that, to tell his story -- free of the constricting lens of a reporter`s focus.
When I spoke to the Colonel I ended our conversation by saying, "Thank you, Colonel, for your service to Amerca." You will want to do the same thing when Colonel Nathan Sassaman, awarded the Bronze Star for valor in combat, speaks to The Denver Forum Thursday, November 17.
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October 23, 2005
The Fall of the Warrior King
By DEXTER FILKINS
The body had not yet turned up. Indeed, at that point, early in January 2004, it wasn`t clear there was a body at all. Months later, at the trial, the lawyers would still be arguing about it, the puffy, wrinkled corpse that was finally found floating face down in an irrigation canal off the Tigris. But even then, even before the dead man surfaced, it was clear that something had gone wrong on that cold Iraqi night down by the river, something wild by the American military`s standards of discipline and force, and the problem had wended its way up the chain of command to the unit`s commander, Lt. Col. Nathan Sassaman. Read more |
