VZCZCXRO6235 
PP RUEHBC RUEHDA RUEHDE RUEHDH RUEHIHL RUEHKUK 
DE RUEHGB #1287/01 1371118 
ZNR UUUUU ZZH 
P 171118Z MAY 09 
FM AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD 
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3081 
INFO RUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BAGHDAD 001287 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PGOV IZ
SUBJECT: PRT NINEWA: NEITHER VICTORS NOR VANQUISHED . . . 
HONORING THE FALLEN WHERE MIGHTY ARMIES CLASHED 
 
This message is Sensitive but Unclassified; handle 
accordingly. Not for distribution on the Internet. 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: The cacophony of modern warfare receded 
for a day, replaced by the imagined din of ancient armies 
clashing on an Iraqi plain. Americans and Iraqis walked the 
ground at Gaugamela where in 331 BC the army of the Alexander 
the Great defeated that of Darius III of Persia. Soldiers 
among us relived the military lessons of the campaign; the 
diplomats considered the epochal implications of when east 
met west on a bend in the Gomel River at the base of Magloub 
Mountain. All came together to dedicate a memorial to the 
fallen and to meditate on youth as the universal currency of 
warfare across the ages. End summary. 
 
¶2. (SBU) PRT Ninewa supported a May 10 Multinational 
Division-North staff ride to the likely site of the Battle of 
Gaugamela, Alexander's third and decisive victory over the 
Persian Empire. The site favored by most scholars lies just 
within Ninewa's Shaikhan District, where it joins with 
Hamdaniya and Irbil. Division Commander MG Caslen led all 
his brigade commanders and their Sergeants Major; he also 
invited Iraqi Army Division Commanders (Arab and Kurd), as 
well as the leadership of the Peshmerga. PRT secured 
permission from the State Board of Antiquities to place a 
monument, commissioned the stone via a QRF grant, and 
obtained the permission of the mayor of Shaikhan to leave the 
marker on a ridgeline above the field of battle. 
 
¶3. (SBU) To walk a battlefield in the company of American 
military officers and NCOs commanding troops in combat is a 
remarkable experience, one that was not lost on our Iraqi 
colleagues. Our American military colleagues analyzed the 
battle with characteristic precision, identifying the key 
decisions made before and after the fighting began, 
contrasting the leadership styles of Darius and Alexander, 
dissecting the role of technology in the campaign, and 
seeking modern lessons from a battle fought over 2,000 years 
ago. Our Iraqi colleagues grasped what we were trying to do; 
they noted that Alexander led from the front, considered his 
troops to be kinsmen, and fought the battle on his terms. 
They noted that Alexander, when faced with a crisis of 
Persians attacking his baggage train, intensified his assault 
on a breach in the Persian lines, while Darius fled from the 
scene when the tide turned against him. 
 
¶4. (SBU) For the marker, we paraphrased an epigram from 
Simonidis of Ceos, a poet who lived over a century before 
Alexander and best known for his homage to the heroes of 
Thermoplyae ("Go tell the Spartans, oh stranger passing by, 
that here obedient to their laws we lie.") In English, 
Arabic and Kurdish, we carved "near this site in 331 BC, the 
armies of Alexander and Darius fought the Battle of 
Gaugamela. Today's soldiers salute the honor-clad noble 
warriors. You relinquished beloved youth for the rough cloud 
of war." 
 
¶5. (SBU) We opted not to mark Alexander's victory lest we 
remind our Iraqi partners of a western army occupying 
Mesopotamia. It turns out we were perhaps too sensitive, 
fearing that the Iraqis might not appreciate the standard 
triumphalism of the Alexander legend. Actually, the 
Peshmerga and IA were proud of Alexander's generalship; one 
reminded us that Alexander's invading army from the west had 
at least defeated an invading army from the east. 
 
¶6. (SBU) The retired Peshmerga general who led the staff 
ride did not share our excessive sensitivity. Indeed, he 
could not help himself; he just had to insert some propaganda 
Qcould not help himself; he just had to insert some propaganda 
of the most un-subtle variety. He reminded all present that 
when God created mankind, it was in Kurdistan, adding that 
when Noah made landfall after the Deluge, it was also in 
Kurdistan. Although we were in the DIBs region, several 
Peshmerga generals informed us that -- like Adam, Eve and 
Noah before us -- we were actually in . . . yes . . . 
Kurdistan. We settled on "we're in Iraq" but with a Kurdish 
wink that PRT leader pretended to ignore given the delights 
of standing on a ridge on a spectacular spring day. 
 
¶7. (SBU) In his remarks unveiling the marker, PRT leader 
noted that Alexander's was the second Greek army to have 
marched through Ninewa. Some seventy years earlier and 15 
miles to the west, Xenophon and 10,000 Greek mercenaries 
headed north after their defeat at the Battle of Cuneixha. 
PRT leader thanked PAS Baghdad for supporting the project, 
and OPA for funding the marker through a QRF grant. 
 
¶8. (SBU) Comment: As we grow older, our soldiers appear to 
grow younger. As we honor our fallen at ceremonies 
throughout Ninewa -- five in Mosul three weeks ago, two in 
Qayarra last week, and one more in Qayarra the day after the 
staff ride -- it is their dates of birth that stand out . . . 
1987, 1988, 1983 . . . young Americans born when we had 
already reached adulthood and who found a reservoir of 
courage and sacrifice far deeper than our own. Simonidis 
reminds us of the reality we face every day; heroic youth is 
the currency of our statecraft. For their part, Alexander 
and Xenophon remind us that there is honor in advance as well 
as in withdrawal. End Comment. 
 
 
BUTENIS