HOW WE ARE ARMING THE ENEMY
Every type of gun that the Americans give comes to the market," said Brig. Hassan Nouri, chief of the political investigations bureau for the Sulaimaniya district. "They go from the U.S. Army to the Iraqi Army to the smugglers. I have captured many of these guns that the terrorists bought."
…"In the south, if the Americans give the Iraqis weapons, the next day you can buy them here," said one dealer, who sold groceries in the front of his kiosk and offered weapons in the back.
"The Iraqi Army, the Iraqi police--they all sell them right away…Almost all of the weapons come from the Iraqi police and army," he said. "They are our best suppliers."
--"Black-Market Weapons Prices Surge in Iraq Chaos," C.J. Chivers, New York Times, December 10, 2006.
THIS IS HOW IT HAPPENS:
We pour valuable energy and unlimited treasure and time into training the much-exalted Iraqi army and police forces so they can stand up and we can stand down. It is the centerpiece of the Iraq Study Group's recommendations (which are already DOA on the Beltway), and it is the major thrust of all the mumblings coming from the White House.
I've already written about how even the best-trained Iraqi army units--(those who haven't deserted or refused to fight)--freeze and run at the first sign of combat and beg the Americans to rescue them.
Now I'm going to demonstrate what happens to the arms provided to them by the Americans.
They sell them--some of them still in their boxes--to smugglers, who deal them openly and not-so-openly in every street-corner and back-alley bazaar in Iraq. Sunni insurgent groups, Shi'ite paramilitary units, and criminals who were released from prison by Saddam Hussein before the war make up most of the customers, but more and more terrified households are also stocking up.
This rising demand has pushed up the prices of these almost-new weapons, which means that an Iraqi army soldier can desert his unit--which almost half of them do--and then sell his weapons, thus bringing home pay equal to several months' salary.
These are not just nine-millimeter Glocks, which are flooding the Iraqi markets as fast as the Americans can provide them. They are also grenade launchers, assault rifles, and other high-powered weapons, most of them brand-new--and incredibly, even police cars with police labels and lights still on them.
The weapons were paid for with the $133 million from the Iraq Relief and Reconstruction Fund, according to the confidential report put out by the Pentagon.
Not everyone who sells his weapon has quit the police or deserted from the army. Many of them walk in and claim that their weapons were stolen. They are promptly issued new ones.
These guns have been proliferating in Iraq since the war began, simply because the U.S. army did not write down the serial numbers on weapons issued, thus making it impossible to trace the lost, stolen, or sold firearms and grenade launchers that have then been used against our own troops.
Bush can crow all he wants to about how the Iranians and Syrians are meddling in Iraq, but the truth is that they really don't have to. Terrorist activities and insurgent raids and militia massacres are already well-funded by smuggled oil which was not secured by the U.S. after the invasion, and armed by stockpiles of weapons that were also not secured--as per Rumsfeld's orders--and by OUR OWN WEAPONS WHICH WE HAVE PROVIDED THEM AND THEY HAVE SOLD IN THE BLACK MARKET, TO BE USED TO KILL AMERICANS.
We are talking thousands.
And it's taking its toll.
The U.S. military is no longer able to defeat a bloody insurgency in western Iraq or counter al-Qaeda's rising popularity there, according to newly disclosed details from a classified Marine Corps intelligence report that set off debate in recent months about the military's mission in the Anbar province.
…Between al-Qaeda's violence, Iran's influence and an expected U.S. drawdown, "the social and political situation has deteriorated to a point" that U.S. and Iraqi troops "are no longer capable of militarily defeating the insurgency in al-Anbar," the assessment found. In Anbar province alone, more than 100 troops have died since Sept. 1.
…The report notes that illicit oil trading is providing millions of dollars to al-Qaeda while "official profits appear to feed Sh'ite cronyism in Baghdad."…The Iraqi government, dominated by Iranian-backed Shi'ites, has not paid salaries for Anbar officials and Iraqi forces stationed there.
…Without a deployment of an additional U.S. military division--15,000 to 20,000 troops--plus billions of dollars in aid to the province, "there is nothing U.S. troops can do to influence the insurgency."
--"Anbar Picture Grows Clearer, and Bleaker," Dafna Linzer and Thomas E. Ricks, Washington Post, November 28, 2006.
Here are the cold, hard facts, which are already outdated because so many Marines are dying in the Anbar:
As of the end of November, more than 1,055 Marines have been killed in the Anbar province, a whopping 37% of all U.S. casualties, even though the Marine Corps provides only a third of the troops currently stationed in Iraq.
In other words, the smallest segment of American armed forces serving in Iraq has provided more than a third of all U.S. deaths--and this does not count horrific non-fatal injuries from IED's. The Marines are THREE TIMES MORE LIKELY TO BE KILLED IN THE ANBAR than troops in Baghdad or anywhere else, and many of the weapons used against them were provided by the U.S. military.
And even the White House wants to give up the Anbar. SO DON'T LET THEM TALK ABOUT HONORING ANYBODY'S SACRIFICE. ALL THEY CARE ABOUT IS THEIR OWN POLITICAL SACRIFICE.
The Bush administration is deliberating whether to abandon U.S. reconciliation efforts with Sunni insurgents and instead give priority to Shi'ites and Kurds, who won elections and now dominate the government…U.S. officials are increasingly concerned that their reconciliation efforts may even have backfired, alienating the Shi'tite majority and leaving the U.S. vulnerable to having no allies in Iraq, according to sources familiar with the State Dept. proposal.
--"U.S. Considers Ending Outreach to Insurgents," Robin Wright, Washington Post, December 1, 2006.
Yeah, look to hear a lot from the White House in coming weeks about this 80-20, or "eighty-percent solution." So called because supposedly, 80% of the Iraqi population is Shi'ite and Kurd and only 20% are Sunni.
Of course, this does not take into account our own allies, like, oh, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, which are Sunni.
I'm not going to get into all that. Suffice it to say that the Marines have fought valiantly, died and come home blown to pieces, in a failed policy that has accomplished NOTHING, according to the Marines' own assessment.
And I think it's a safe bet that many of the Sunnis they have battled have been fighting back with weapons provided by the good old U.S. military.
This is insane. I'm sick of White House doublespeak and bullshit. I'm sick of their lies and bait-and-switch sloganeering, their concerted media-drenching of talk-radio and FOX news and neocon publications, which then gets quoted in the mainstream media.
I'm sick of this administration using the soundbite and photo op to peddle their lies and manipulations about this war--which they have been doing since 2002--to the American people.
I'm sick of Marines dying in the Anbar for NOTHING.
I'm sick of the White House completely ignoring the Anbar, claiming that the whole war will be fought and won in Baghdad. They've even gone so far as to draw desperately needed Marines out of the Anbar and sent them into Baghdad, leaving those left behind even more vulnerable and exposed.
Bait and switch, baby.
How many Marines will die today because of THAT lie?
I'm sick of news like these black-market weapons flooding the market as fast as Americans can provide them NEVER MAKING IT TO THE EVENING NEWS BROADCASTS, while Bush does his soundbite photo-op dog-and-pony show for the cameras.
Rumsfeld has the unmitigated gall to visit the troops in Iraq ostensibly to "say good-bye" but really to preen for the cameras and get one last soundbite on the evening news, to wit, "HISTORY WILL PROVE THAT I AM RIGHT."
WE'VE LOST MORE THAN 45 TROOPS IN THE FIRST TEN DAYS OF THIS MONTH IN IRAQ ALREADY. I'M SURE THOSE STRUGGLING, HOMESICK TROOPS FOUND HIS WORDS COMFORTING AND REASSURING AND INSPIRING HERE AT CHRISTMASTIME as they went out to fight AGAINST WEAPONS WE PROVIDED TO THE ENEMY.
I'm sick of watching Bush's fandango when we all know that all he intends to do is wallow in self-pity and languish in Iraq while men and women die just so he can hand the whole thing over to the next president and then go around at high-dollar fund-raisers making millions for Republicans and throwing rocks at the new president for whatever decisions he or she makes to end this wasted war.
I'm sick of it all.
I'm sick of this war.
I'm done waiting to see if anything anywhere can make any of this worth the horrific blood-sacrifice made by our bravest and best.
Jesus died on the cross for the sins of mankind.
OUR MEN AND WOMEN ARE DYING ON THE CROSS OF ONE MAN'S TOWERING EGO AND ONE SLENDER SEGMENT OF IDEOLOGUES WHO NEVER FOUGHT AND NEVER SENT THEIR OWN CHILDREN OFF TO DIE ON SOMEONE ELSE'S CROSS.
They talk about "temporary surge" of troops. Trust me. It won't be temporary.
So far, 2,934 have been killed in the Iraq war.
BY THE END OF THIS MONTH, MARK MY WORDS, WE WILL CROSS THE TERRIBLE LINE OF MORE THAN 3,000 DEAD IN IRAQ, WITH NO END IN SIGHT.
By the time George W. Bush and his minions leave office in 2009, American deaths in Iraq could very well number more than 5,000.
We are currently losing 100 a month. (Amputations and brain injuries not included.)
Bush fiddles while Iraq burns. And here at home…WE SHOP.
It is time to stop this outrage. It is time to fight for our fighters and go to war for our warriors. Nothing "supports our troops" better than bringing them home and saving their lives.
DECLARE "VICTORY." TURN IRAQ OVER TO THE IRAQIS. LET THEM GET THEIR ARMS FROM SOMEPLACE OTHER THAN OUR OWN TROOPS.
THEN GET THE HELL OUT.
There is not much a Democratic congress and senate can do to stop the madness when a madman is commander-in-chief. But there is a great deal that the American people can do to rise up and shout down the walls of the White House.
I do not support cutting off funding to the troops. I understand the rationale behind it but it only hurts the ones trying to survive in an impossible place.
But we can apply pressure to our legislature on both sides of the aisle and we can make it clear that we aren't listening to Rush Limbaugh and FOX news and all the rest of the far-right manics like the New York Post, which featured James Baker and Lee Hamilton as "surrender monkeys."
We can refuse to listen when grenade-words are thrown like surrender, defeat, retreat, win-or-lose, and "victory."
We can let the surviving Republicans and hawk Democrats know that as long as they continue to support failed policies with this kind of talking-point nonsense, then their days are numbered in their present jobs.
The Bush administration has lost all of its credibility on the war. what is needed now are leaders with the courage to insist, perhaps at the risk of their reputations and careers, that it is wrong to continue sending fresh bodies after those already lost, to continue asking young, healthy Amnerican troops to head into the combat zone, perhaps for their third or fourth tour, to fight in a war the public no longer supports.
In a forward to "The Best and the Brightest," David Halberstam's chronicle of the Vietnam fiasco, Senator John McCain wrote:
"It was a shameful thing to ask men to suffer and die, to persevere through god-awful afflictions and heartache, to endure the dehumanizing experiences that are unavoidable in combat, for a cause that the country wouldn't support over time and that our leaders so wrongly believed could be achieved at a smaller cost than our enemy was prepared to make us pay.
"No other national endeavor requires as much unshakable resolve as war. If the nation and the government lack that resolve, IT IS CRIMINAL TO EXPECT MEN IN THE FIELD TO CARRY IT ALONE." (emphasis mine)
--"The Time is Now," Bob Herbert, New York Times, December 11, 2006.
We can stop debating and dithering while our soldiers and Marines die.
WE CAN STAND UP TO THIS WHITE HOUSE UNTIL THEY STAND DOWN.
God bless our boys and girls in uniform who fight so far away from home this Christmas. They and their families--and those who will never be home for the holidays again--are in my heart every moment of every day.
It is our job, here at home, to stand up for them so that they can stand down. There is no better way to support the troops.
…"In the south, if the Americans give the Iraqis weapons, the next day you can buy them here," said one dealer, who sold groceries in the front of his kiosk and offered weapons in the back.
"The Iraqi Army, the Iraqi police--they all sell them right away…Almost all of the weapons come from the Iraqi police and army," he said. "They are our best suppliers."
--"Black-Market Weapons Prices Surge in Iraq Chaos," C.J. Chivers, New York Times, December 10, 2006.
THIS IS HOW IT HAPPENS:
We pour valuable energy and unlimited treasure and time into training the much-exalted Iraqi army and police forces so they can stand up and we can stand down. It is the centerpiece of the Iraq Study Group's recommendations (which are already DOA on the Beltway), and it is the major thrust of all the mumblings coming from the White House.
I've already written about how even the best-trained Iraqi army units--(those who haven't deserted or refused to fight)--freeze and run at the first sign of combat and beg the Americans to rescue them.
Now I'm going to demonstrate what happens to the arms provided to them by the Americans.
They sell them--some of them still in their boxes--to smugglers, who deal them openly and not-so-openly in every street-corner and back-alley bazaar in Iraq. Sunni insurgent groups, Shi'ite paramilitary units, and criminals who were released from prison by Saddam Hussein before the war make up most of the customers, but more and more terrified households are also stocking up.
This rising demand has pushed up the prices of these almost-new weapons, which means that an Iraqi army soldier can desert his unit--which almost half of them do--and then sell his weapons, thus bringing home pay equal to several months' salary.
These are not just nine-millimeter Glocks, which are flooding the Iraqi markets as fast as the Americans can provide them. They are also grenade launchers, assault rifles, and other high-powered weapons, most of them brand-new--and incredibly, even police cars with police labels and lights still on them.
The weapons were paid for with the $133 million from the Iraq Relief and Reconstruction Fund, according to the confidential report put out by the Pentagon.
Not everyone who sells his weapon has quit the police or deserted from the army. Many of them walk in and claim that their weapons were stolen. They are promptly issued new ones.
These guns have been proliferating in Iraq since the war began, simply because the U.S. army did not write down the serial numbers on weapons issued, thus making it impossible to trace the lost, stolen, or sold firearms and grenade launchers that have then been used against our own troops.
Bush can crow all he wants to about how the Iranians and Syrians are meddling in Iraq, but the truth is that they really don't have to. Terrorist activities and insurgent raids and militia massacres are already well-funded by smuggled oil which was not secured by the U.S. after the invasion, and armed by stockpiles of weapons that were also not secured--as per Rumsfeld's orders--and by OUR OWN WEAPONS WHICH WE HAVE PROVIDED THEM AND THEY HAVE SOLD IN THE BLACK MARKET, TO BE USED TO KILL AMERICANS.
We are talking thousands.
And it's taking its toll.
The U.S. military is no longer able to defeat a bloody insurgency in western Iraq or counter al-Qaeda's rising popularity there, according to newly disclosed details from a classified Marine Corps intelligence report that set off debate in recent months about the military's mission in the Anbar province.
…Between al-Qaeda's violence, Iran's influence and an expected U.S. drawdown, "the social and political situation has deteriorated to a point" that U.S. and Iraqi troops "are no longer capable of militarily defeating the insurgency in al-Anbar," the assessment found. In Anbar province alone, more than 100 troops have died since Sept. 1.
…The report notes that illicit oil trading is providing millions of dollars to al-Qaeda while "official profits appear to feed Sh'ite cronyism in Baghdad."…The Iraqi government, dominated by Iranian-backed Shi'ites, has not paid salaries for Anbar officials and Iraqi forces stationed there.
…Without a deployment of an additional U.S. military division--15,000 to 20,000 troops--plus billions of dollars in aid to the province, "there is nothing U.S. troops can do to influence the insurgency."
--"Anbar Picture Grows Clearer, and Bleaker," Dafna Linzer and Thomas E. Ricks, Washington Post, November 28, 2006.
Here are the cold, hard facts, which are already outdated because so many Marines are dying in the Anbar:
As of the end of November, more than 1,055 Marines have been killed in the Anbar province, a whopping 37% of all U.S. casualties, even though the Marine Corps provides only a third of the troops currently stationed in Iraq.
In other words, the smallest segment of American armed forces serving in Iraq has provided more than a third of all U.S. deaths--and this does not count horrific non-fatal injuries from IED's. The Marines are THREE TIMES MORE LIKELY TO BE KILLED IN THE ANBAR than troops in Baghdad or anywhere else, and many of the weapons used against them were provided by the U.S. military.
And even the White House wants to give up the Anbar. SO DON'T LET THEM TALK ABOUT HONORING ANYBODY'S SACRIFICE. ALL THEY CARE ABOUT IS THEIR OWN POLITICAL SACRIFICE.
The Bush administration is deliberating whether to abandon U.S. reconciliation efforts with Sunni insurgents and instead give priority to Shi'ites and Kurds, who won elections and now dominate the government…U.S. officials are increasingly concerned that their reconciliation efforts may even have backfired, alienating the Shi'tite majority and leaving the U.S. vulnerable to having no allies in Iraq, according to sources familiar with the State Dept. proposal.
--"U.S. Considers Ending Outreach to Insurgents," Robin Wright, Washington Post, December 1, 2006.
Yeah, look to hear a lot from the White House in coming weeks about this 80-20, or "eighty-percent solution." So called because supposedly, 80% of the Iraqi population is Shi'ite and Kurd and only 20% are Sunni.
Of course, this does not take into account our own allies, like, oh, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, which are Sunni.
I'm not going to get into all that. Suffice it to say that the Marines have fought valiantly, died and come home blown to pieces, in a failed policy that has accomplished NOTHING, according to the Marines' own assessment.
And I think it's a safe bet that many of the Sunnis they have battled have been fighting back with weapons provided by the good old U.S. military.
This is insane. I'm sick of White House doublespeak and bullshit. I'm sick of their lies and bait-and-switch sloganeering, their concerted media-drenching of talk-radio and FOX news and neocon publications, which then gets quoted in the mainstream media.
I'm sick of this administration using the soundbite and photo op to peddle their lies and manipulations about this war--which they have been doing since 2002--to the American people.
I'm sick of Marines dying in the Anbar for NOTHING.
I'm sick of the White House completely ignoring the Anbar, claiming that the whole war will be fought and won in Baghdad. They've even gone so far as to draw desperately needed Marines out of the Anbar and sent them into Baghdad, leaving those left behind even more vulnerable and exposed.
Bait and switch, baby.
How many Marines will die today because of THAT lie?
I'm sick of news like these black-market weapons flooding the market as fast as Americans can provide them NEVER MAKING IT TO THE EVENING NEWS BROADCASTS, while Bush does his soundbite photo-op dog-and-pony show for the cameras.
Rumsfeld has the unmitigated gall to visit the troops in Iraq ostensibly to "say good-bye" but really to preen for the cameras and get one last soundbite on the evening news, to wit, "HISTORY WILL PROVE THAT I AM RIGHT."
WE'VE LOST MORE THAN 45 TROOPS IN THE FIRST TEN DAYS OF THIS MONTH IN IRAQ ALREADY. I'M SURE THOSE STRUGGLING, HOMESICK TROOPS FOUND HIS WORDS COMFORTING AND REASSURING AND INSPIRING HERE AT CHRISTMASTIME as they went out to fight AGAINST WEAPONS WE PROVIDED TO THE ENEMY.
I'm sick of watching Bush's fandango when we all know that all he intends to do is wallow in self-pity and languish in Iraq while men and women die just so he can hand the whole thing over to the next president and then go around at high-dollar fund-raisers making millions for Republicans and throwing rocks at the new president for whatever decisions he or she makes to end this wasted war.
I'm sick of it all.
I'm sick of this war.
I'm done waiting to see if anything anywhere can make any of this worth the horrific blood-sacrifice made by our bravest and best.
Jesus died on the cross for the sins of mankind.
OUR MEN AND WOMEN ARE DYING ON THE CROSS OF ONE MAN'S TOWERING EGO AND ONE SLENDER SEGMENT OF IDEOLOGUES WHO NEVER FOUGHT AND NEVER SENT THEIR OWN CHILDREN OFF TO DIE ON SOMEONE ELSE'S CROSS.
They talk about "temporary surge" of troops. Trust me. It won't be temporary.
So far, 2,934 have been killed in the Iraq war.
BY THE END OF THIS MONTH, MARK MY WORDS, WE WILL CROSS THE TERRIBLE LINE OF MORE THAN 3,000 DEAD IN IRAQ, WITH NO END IN SIGHT.
By the time George W. Bush and his minions leave office in 2009, American deaths in Iraq could very well number more than 5,000.
We are currently losing 100 a month. (Amputations and brain injuries not included.)
Bush fiddles while Iraq burns. And here at home…WE SHOP.
It is time to stop this outrage. It is time to fight for our fighters and go to war for our warriors. Nothing "supports our troops" better than bringing them home and saving their lives.
DECLARE "VICTORY." TURN IRAQ OVER TO THE IRAQIS. LET THEM GET THEIR ARMS FROM SOMEPLACE OTHER THAN OUR OWN TROOPS.
THEN GET THE HELL OUT.
There is not much a Democratic congress and senate can do to stop the madness when a madman is commander-in-chief. But there is a great deal that the American people can do to rise up and shout down the walls of the White House.
I do not support cutting off funding to the troops. I understand the rationale behind it but it only hurts the ones trying to survive in an impossible place.
But we can apply pressure to our legislature on both sides of the aisle and we can make it clear that we aren't listening to Rush Limbaugh and FOX news and all the rest of the far-right manics like the New York Post, which featured James Baker and Lee Hamilton as "surrender monkeys."
We can refuse to listen when grenade-words are thrown like surrender, defeat, retreat, win-or-lose, and "victory."
We can let the surviving Republicans and hawk Democrats know that as long as they continue to support failed policies with this kind of talking-point nonsense, then their days are numbered in their present jobs.
The Bush administration has lost all of its credibility on the war. what is needed now are leaders with the courage to insist, perhaps at the risk of their reputations and careers, that it is wrong to continue sending fresh bodies after those already lost, to continue asking young, healthy Amnerican troops to head into the combat zone, perhaps for their third or fourth tour, to fight in a war the public no longer supports.
In a forward to "The Best and the Brightest," David Halberstam's chronicle of the Vietnam fiasco, Senator John McCain wrote:
"It was a shameful thing to ask men to suffer and die, to persevere through god-awful afflictions and heartache, to endure the dehumanizing experiences that are unavoidable in combat, for a cause that the country wouldn't support over time and that our leaders so wrongly believed could be achieved at a smaller cost than our enemy was prepared to make us pay.
"No other national endeavor requires as much unshakable resolve as war. If the nation and the government lack that resolve, IT IS CRIMINAL TO EXPECT MEN IN THE FIELD TO CARRY IT ALONE." (emphasis mine)
--"The Time is Now," Bob Herbert, New York Times, December 11, 2006.
We can stop debating and dithering while our soldiers and Marines die.
WE CAN STAND UP TO THIS WHITE HOUSE UNTIL THEY STAND DOWN.
God bless our boys and girls in uniform who fight so far away from home this Christmas. They and their families--and those who will never be home for the holidays again--are in my heart every moment of every day.
It is our job, here at home, to stand up for them so that they can stand down. There is no better way to support the troops.
posted by Deanie Mills at 8:51 AM
10 Comments:
This is very serious stuff. Might I suggest you open with a joke from now on? That always softens the reader up!
SO my proficy came true you are quoting scriptures.......to prove your point!
As I can remember the black market was a big problem during the Vietnam Conflict.....but now it is all BUSH'S fault, poor management, poor selection of officers of the Government, I guess the historical facts will be overshadowed by your zealousness to make your point TODAY, yet history unfortunately repeats. Your reference to the cross was offensive.
Your son as brave as he may be was not crucified in the name of peace. He volunteered to work for his country, too bad the job sucks. Get a grip.
Darnell! God bless you son, I see you are serving. Next time, I promise a joke!
Yeah, I get worked up about this stuff. I'm tired of you guys getting shot at and would like to get you all home ASAP.
Semper fi,
Deanie
Anonymous, first of all, I did not quote scripture, I simply stated fact.
Second of all, learn to spell.
Third, don't tell me what my son did or did not do. You do not know and are not qualified to speak on the matter.
Deanie
As the mother of another Marine due to go back to Iraq this summer ... I hope that people listen to you, Deanie. When it is YOUR sons and daughters that are dying in this ill-begotten war, then you have a right to rant! Once you are the mother of one Marine ... you feel like a mother to ALL of them.
hugs to you Deanie
"don't tell me what my son did or did not do. You do not know and are not qualified to speak on the matter. "
So, does that mean that he didn't volunteer?
Should we not arm the Iraqi army? Perhaps they can simply "establish dialog" with the terrorist nutjobs.
On a side note, having been to Iraq, I too would much rather that "we fight them over there than here at home." Sorry that you somehow find that offensive or disturbing (per your post about Marines being "overwhelmed" by mail). My mom doesn't find it offensive or disturbing. She loves her country as well as her son.
I think you're way off the mark on many things, but you're fully entitled to your opinion. I would caution you to not apply your misguided ideas to advice that you offer to other military parents.
Jarhead John,
Thank you for your service, son.
I have nothing but the utmost respect (see "Why I Am So Angry") for all the men and women in uniform who do what they do each and every day. I do not find what you guys do offensive or disturbing; in fact, quite the contrary. What you do is valiant, and you deserve the proper tools to do a very difficult job.
When my son fought in Fallujah, they did not have proper body armor or armor for their vehicles, and I wonder how many died unneccesarily because of that. I want your service to be honored with THAT kind of support, more than just mail and care packages.
I want you to be able to receive the proper medical attention when you return--not to have your benefits cut, or VA budgets slashed, as this administration has repeatedly done. I want reservists and guard troops who are wounded not to have to pay their own hospital bills. I want a guy whose flak jacket gets cut off him when he's wounded not to have to pay for that flak jacket when he gets home. These are the kinds of outrages I protest; NOT the job that you are doing.
I don't know what the answer is re the Iraqi army; but I would submit that military minds of great wisdom and experience can't figure out what to do about them either. What I am trying to do is draw attention to the gaps that exist right now, in hopes that if enough of us do so, then n the future, these problems can be corrected.
As I understand it, the army is now writing down those serial numbers on weapons granted to the Iraqis.
What I want is for the Iraqis to arm their own army, frankly. So far, the govt. is only using 15% of the oil royalties available to them to take care of themselves. They find it far easier to depend on the U.S.
I do not "offer advice" to Marine parents except for the many who e-mail me or call me, who feel the same way I do, and feel an added isolation because, as Marine parents, they have often felt pressured to believe a certain way and have been accused of hurting their children when they don't.
My sister-in-law is the mother of a Marine who has deployed three times. She feels very differently than me. When I visit, I am always exquisitely sensitive to that and do not speak to her about my opinions. She makes quite sure that I know how she feels--loudly, sometimes--and I always sit there and say nothing.
We've all gotta do what we've all got to do to survive this endless ordeal, sir. I am trying to draw attention to the unbelievable stresses on families for repeated deployments; to that end, I have spoken out frequently in favor of a national draft. So don't assume that because I hate the way this war has been managed to the supreme detriment of our troops, that I am in any way anti-military.
I currently have five family members in active duty, with three who have deployed to war zones, and have five other combat veterans from Vietnam in my family. I honor the military, and believe that they have been mistreated by this administration, and there are many in uniform who feel as I do.
Thank you for taking the time and trouble to post. You are welcome here any time, to agree or disagree. Those are the freedoms we all cherish.
Respectfully, and semper fi,
Deanie
I don't think there is any magic solution regarding the Iraqi army. Obviuosly, they need to be armed, but corruption in every level of government seems to be a casual norm for Iraq, and is probably mostly ignored by the populace.
Unless the mindset of the citizens of Iraq changes, the corruption in their government and military probably never will. Just a guess though...
Jarhead John,
You hit the nail right on the head, my friend, and it is the crux of the whole problem in Iraq, IMO.
The hatreds--and the corruption--that we are seeing boiling over the kettle right now have been in place not just since Saddam, but for centuries. Just yesterday, the president of Iraq, Talabani, who is a Kurd, said that the Americans should pull out of Baghdad altogether and let the Iraqi army take over. Then the Sunnis started yelling that if we do THAT, the mostly-Shi'ite Iraqi army will massacre remaining Baghdad Sunnis.
So the administration is easing out leaks that we may join forces with the Shi'ites and give up on the Sunnis. If we do THAT, Saudi Arabia has just threatened that they will actively send money to support the Sunni insurgency, which they have secretly been doing from the beginning.
I talked about this for hours with my brother-in-law, who just retired at the rank of Brig. Gen. from the Army Special Forces. He has negotiated with warlords in spots like the Balkans and Afghanistan, and he said the only way to settle this thing was to send in elite SF troops in large numbers and leave them for TWO GENERATIONS. He said that this generation of Iraqis is lost to the Americans.
Of course, that's an SF perspective, but the upshot of our conversation is that nobody seems to know what to do.
I just get upset, son, that while all this dithering goes on, you guys are still being deployed and it just gets more confusing and frustrating and harder every time. In the Anbar, the Sunnis are trying to kill as many Marines as they can. In Baghdad, the Sunnis are begging the Marines to protect them.
I asked my brother-in-law, why can't the Baghdad Sunnis get on the phone to their cousins in the Anbar and say, Cut it out, these guys are saving our lives? I was half-joking, and he laughed, and said, "It doesn't work that way."
I agree that all hell will break loose if and when we leave. My concern is that we stay, say, 30 years, like the Soviets did in Bosnia, and then when all is peaceful, we pull out, and what would happen? Look what happened in the Balkans.
But in the meantime, I just don't want you guys to be forgotten while people are busy with their Christmas shopping. Maybe I get a little too mad sometimes, but I've got some pretty stout warrior blood (Cherokee and Scot) running through my veins, too. My dad retired from the Marine Corps a Master Gunnery Sgt. He had to beg 'em to send him to 'Nam when he was 40 and had 5 kids. They did.
Semper fi,
Deanie
Thanks jarhead john for being willing to serve our country and the people the way you are. You sound a lot like my son.
You know ... I had an epiphany lately that disturbs me greatly. I will probably put it in my blog at some point but here it is since I think in some way it relates to the comments here:
When you think back about how our [once] great country began and compare our original fight for freedom from oppression and democray, you see something that is totally lacking in the Iraq populace in the present time. Our forefathers fought a very hard fight using every resource and every bit of wit and fortitude that they could muster to win our freedom. It made that freedom and out democracy that much more precious to us. The Iraqi people may deserve to have the chance at the same kind of freedom but the real question is ... Will they find it precious enough to fight a real hard war for it like the forefathers of our country did? Even without reading Deanie's comments and seeing her anger and despair come through, which I totally understand, I would wonder at the Iraqis commitment to have what WE, as Americans, fought so hard for. I feel we are actually doing them a disservice fighting their battle for them because they will never cherish democracy the way Americans did for a long time.
Semper Fi and God bless and help us all.
Tami
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