Following his March to June 2002 deployment to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba - where he served as operations officer of 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, which had responsibility for external security and detainee transfers at Camps X-Ray and Delta - Lieutenant Colonel Brian Reed became the battalion's executive officer and then, eventually, S3 of 1st Brigade, 4th Infantry Division. He deployed with 4th ID to Iraq in March 2003. After the seizure of Tikrit and Baiji, things "seemed to be shaping up like peacekeeping operations," said Reed. "But then about June, it was like somebody flipped a switch, all hell broke loose, and that's when we realized we had a pretty serious enemy on our hands." Of considerable importance to combating insurgent and former regime loyalist forces was the mission to detain or kill high-value targets, chief among whom was Saddam Hussein. Indeed, working closely with Colonel James Hickey, Reed himself was the primary planner for Operation Red Dawn, which resulted in the ousted dictator’s December 2003 capture. In this interview, Reed discusses this operation in depth; reveals he was not, in fact, the soldier who told Hussein that “President Bush sends his regards,” as was widely reported; and maintains that “the real story” was what “happened in the months preceding.” In addition, reflecting on the lessons learned piece, Reed argues that “it’s still about killing the enemy. I don’t care how you slice it, we’re still at war and you still have to kill bad guys. But what’s also important is understanding the culture of the people and recognizing that they’re not Americans, they’re not us, and they’re not going to be us.”

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited