High-Stakes Opening and Closing Roles for a U.S. General in Iraq

By Ernesto Londoño
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, August 14, 2009

BAGHDAD -- Brig. Gen. Heidi Brown made history during the 2003 invasion of Iraq as the first female commander to head an American combat brigade in wartime.

The imposing, 49-year-old Texan led battalions providing air cover and artillery support to U.S. ground forces fighting their way toward Baghdad across Iraq's southern desert. Her troops shot down Iraqi Scud missiles. Several of her soldiers, including Pfc. Jessica Lynch, were ambushed and taken hostage, in the first major crisis of the early days of the invasion.

Brown's new deployment, which began this spring, is similarly high-stakes but could hardly be more different.

Her new job title is commander in charge of the responsible withdrawal, derived from President Obama's campaign promise to end an unpopular war in a way that does not upset the delicate balance that has allowed a measure of normalcy to return to Iraq.

(More here.)