Just a former US soldier who served 2 combat tours in Iraq as well as an additional tour as a Federal Civilian. These are my thoughts on life, family, the Army, and other insights. ****DISCLAIMER**** ALL opinions expressed on this blog are those of myself in my private capacity and not as a representative of the DoD, DA, or any particular element of the Government. By viewing this site you accept and agree to this disclaimer in the use of any information accessed in this website.
hi...i don't know you, but i found your blog thru operation truth...i do have a loved one in ramadi right now...but i don't talk to him about these things or anything related to his experience right now...though i've asked a time or 2, i think it's unfair for me to allow my curiosity to perhaps be of detriment to his emotional strength...
anyway...i'm a pacifist but i support troops...and as a stranger on the outside looking in, just wanted to say thanks for having the courage to put your view out there on the net for concerned ppl like me to have access to what you guys go through over there.
"anonymous": While you're pushing your war-porn, remember there are people on this blog whose loved ones are in the middle of all this misery and violence (Americans and Iraqis). Spare a thought for their feelings, huh?
I have heard of these horrible murders, but after having seen them take place I can understand how soldiers would want to retaliate. Maybe this is why we have so many stories of prisoner abuse now.
After seeing this, I felt numb with disbelief. Then I felt Rage, and Anger. I started to think that we should just "Kill'Em All".
It will take some time for me to sort this out in my mind. But I must, Since I don't want to become one of the "Monsters" when I ship out for Iraq in two months.
Why don't you try learning something before you start throwing around terms.
Would you care to share with us your own religious beliefs? What brand of religion do you study?
How do you justify your former leaders attempts to build Weapons of Massive Aggression? Do you think he would not have used them to flatten a few cities? Israel maybe?
Did you protest when he developed a nuclear weapons program? Did you tell him that it might cause your country to be invaded? Did you tell him that he is one of the handfuls of vicious fanatic criminals when he murdered his way to the Iraq Presidency? Or did you tell him when he continued to murder after he got there?
Would you have said "Saddam you are killing Us"? Of course not. Because you would be taking a Dirt Nap with the Real Citizens who stood up to him or were just unfortunate to get "Noticed" by him or his henchmen.
Maybe you should have, because no one is listening to YOUR self righteous cries of, Get Out! Get Out Of My Country! now.
One would think you might show us even the smallest measure of gratitude for doing what you could not do yourself, by ridding you of YOUR dictator.
Was life so good for you when your own president ran Rape Rooms? How about the Torture Prisons? Were you "Happy" then or just plain ignorant with fear?
Americans generally don't like to wear out our welcome. But the Work of ridding you of your future potential dictators, so that we don't have to come back again, is not done yet. Since the "Handful" of vicious fanatic criminals is spread so widely throughout your country.
Sol: Comparing someone to the Nazis because they want your troops out of their country is a disgusting slur that denies the suffering of Iraqis and cheapens the horror of the Nazi regime. Whatever we think of the war, life for most Iraqis is far worse now than before we invaded. Even the CIA and MI5 admit we have turned Iraq into a playground for gangsters and terrorists. Maybe if we had to live under these conditions we'd want to see the back of our occupiers and prefer to fix our country up for ourselves instead.
As for "anonymous"; Maybe Hurria protested against Saddam, maybe she didn't. But our governments sure as hell didn't when they were funding his rise to power or his war with Iran, selling him weapons and turning a blind eye to his atrocities, or claiming half a million dead Iraqi children was "a price worth paying". As for WMDs, you must be the last person in the world who seriously believes that cr@p: there were no WMDs, barely even any "programs", and certainly no nukes. If you want illegal and undeclared nukes, try looking in Dimona.
"Dirt naps": Anywhere between 25,000 and 100,000 Iraqis are taking a "dirt nap" right now, since our invasion. Those figures are certainly in the same ball-park as Saddam himself, and getting worse. We are destroying Iraq in order to "save" it for Bechtel and Halliburton. No wonder they want us out.
When I read your comments, your condemnation of these awful acts of beheading civilians doesn't appear very clearly - in between lines, I read nearly an excuse (kind of "you know, we didn't begin..."). But I can be wrong, my English is not as good as yours.
Whishing a peaceful future to all Irakies, a soon as possible.
Anywhere between 25,000 and 100,000 Iraqis are taking a "dirt nap" right now, since our invasion.
"OK, now tell us how many of these were combatant deaths."
This BBC report gives you an overview of the Iraqi Body Count study that concluded that 25,000 Iraqi civilians (i.e. non-combatants) had been killed during the first 2 years of the war (more since, no doubt). Just over 40% were killed by coalition forces (especially around the time of the invasion of course), another 40% or so by criminal gangs, and the rest by "insurgents", although of course the "insurgents" are getting more kills in these days. Many people regard the 25,000 as a low figure, as it is based on deaths reported or occurring at hospitals etc. Because of the difficulty in gathering this information, we have absolutely no idea how many other Iraqi civilians have been killed, and the British medical journal "The Lancet" reported another study suggesting up to 100,000 mght have died. We know exactly how many coalition troops have been killed, but we can't even estimate the Iraqi dead to the nearest 10,000.
Thank you for backing up your claims with the data.
I agree that these innocent civilian deaths are horribly unfortunate.
It is also most unfortunate that the enemy chooses to hide amongst the innocent, and use them as a shield. If they were to come out of hiding and face us like the fierce fighters they claim to be, this would all be over in short order.
See the comments on Zach's post "War in the eyes of man" (30 July) for some detailed discussion of why the Iraqi "insurgents" do not "come out of hiding and face us like the fierce fighters they claim to be". They're not complete idiots, whatever else they may be, and clearly have their own concept of "force protection".
For the most part the "enemy" are Iraqi citizens who are living in their cities and homes.
You can't have it both ways, Either your people are innocent and are just caught up in the middle of this, or, they have taken up arms against the US, which WOULD make them the "Enemy".
Also meaning you should stop trying to fault the US for not being able to distinguish between the "Innocent" & The "Enemy" Iraqi when protesting about their Deaths.
Furthermore, By your claims here, your people prefer the company of these savage Insurgents.
Thank you for showing us your true colors here in trying to have it both ways.
Good points made in your usual robust manner, Hurria, although the occupiers are not the only "savages" in Iraq right now, as you yourself admit.
But in case anybody else is any doubt what the legal responsibilities of an occupying power might be, check out the 4th Geneva Convention.
These rules were not drafted by weakling liberal peaceniks, but by the Western powers in response to the horrors committed by the Nazis in the countries they occupied during WWII. Why do we breach them so casually?
Not trying to disagree with you, Hurria, but "my" government is the UK, not the US. Probably doesn't make much difference to you, but it does to us. And you might be surprised to know how much sympathy there is for the suffering of the Iraqi people here in the UK - Blair's war is definitely not popular here.
Still, you re elected the buffoon Blair. What a shame.
Not me personally, I assure you, but yes, a shame indeed. The archaic unfairness of the UK electoral system made it very difficult for us to dislodge the mendacious Bush-worshipping little weasel, unfortunately, and the other main party (the Conservatives) are even worse, both for Iraq and for Britain.
But our forces, unlike the US, may be subject to the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court for breaches of international law or the Geneva Conventions. So even though our troops are still in Iraq, there is considerable political sensitivity here to allegations of abuses against Iraqi civilians. And there was also a great deal of opposition here to British forces being involved in the US attack on Fallujah last year (some of our troops were moved up to provide support for this attack, although they were not directly involved).
But in the end I agree with you that we should bring our troops home and let Iraqis decide the future of their country.
2) Your chances of survival will increase greatly when you stop pointing weapons at us.
3) If you are trying to kill me and my fellow soldiers, YOU ARE A BAD GUY - PERIOD!
4) The Savage is the one who sees where an IED has been planted, but will say nothing and allow my fellow soldiers to be killed by it. The Savage is the one who kills HIS OWN people for actually doing something to try and take their country back by joining the new Iraqi police force or military. The Savage is the one who Harbors these harbors these "Citizens" knowing what they have done.
last anon, you seem to forget that the US invaded Iraq, a nation that had never been an aggressor against us, and did so in violation of US and UN laws.
Hurria and taff, it's great to see comments from intellegent, civilized people. And there are quite a few here in the US and we're working to take back our government but it's looking like a long hard road against ignorance and greed.
Oppps Zack, I originaly clicked on the comment lead to tell you you're a lucky man to have a lovely compassionate wife. Good luck, best wishes and prayers on coming home to her and your family in one piece. As a veteran I understand your pain in being seperated from those you love.
"last anon, you seem to forget that the US invaded Iraq, a nation that had never been an aggressor against us, and did so in violation of US and UN laws. "
Thats debateable, however a soldiers orders are not. Many of us are just trying to make it through this with as few scars as possible. At least in VietNam we would cut eachother some slack and stay out of the others way every once in awhile.
anon, I'm not trying to start an agument here and I certainly want to see as many (preferably all) of our soldiers come home safe and sound. But your statement that a soldiers orders aren't debatable isn't quite true either. The Military Code of Justice says that a soldier is not obligated to follow illegal orders. And the MCJ trumps all other orders so that does indeed leave some room for debate. Hey I was a soldier too once and I do understand that it certainly isn't encouraged in the ranks to question orders I'm just saying that it is indeed legal to do so.
Not to make excuses, but you know as well as I do that the line between Lawful & UnLawful orders can be Blurred. I knew a soldier who allowed himself to unjustly punished simply because his punishment would have been over by time he would have gotten any results by fighting it, Which I urged him to do. That is a sad state for our army to be in, but as the song says "Thats Just The Way It Is & Some Things Will Never Change"
I'm certainly in no position to make an informed argument against your perspectives and I will not. If we (U.S.) have nefarious intentions then I will be quite saddened. I do believe the merits of our foreign policy must be discerned from multiple perspectives, yours not being the least relevent.
Yes, I do like to see genuine happiness as shown in your photo. Good luck to you Zach and your lovely wife.
33 comments:
Great picture of a great couple :°)
That is one of my favorite pictures of the two of you too! Love, Mom
Beautiful pic, Zach. You two look so happy!!
Take care --
great photo. I got a kick out of the "Eye on the Prize" pic as well.
hi...i don't know you, but i found your blog thru operation truth...i do have a loved one in ramadi right now...but i don't talk to him about these things or anything related to his experience right now...though i've asked a time or 2, i think it's unfair for me to allow my curiosity to perhaps be of detriment to his emotional strength...
anyway...i'm a pacifist but i support troops...and as a stranger on the outside looking in, just wanted to say thanks for having the courage to put your view out there on the net for concerned ppl like me to have access to what you guys go through over there.
thanks
isis
Anonymous, that was not fair, you should post that stuff without warning.
Anonymous, what do you try to prove with that ?
That there are monsters on that earth ?
We all know that already.
Man you really suck.
"anonymous":
While you're pushing your war-porn, remember there are people on this blog whose loved ones are in the middle of all this misery and violence (Americans and Iraqis). Spare a thought for their feelings, huh?
"War-Porn"
I have heard of these horrible murders, but after having seen them take place I can understand how soldiers would want to retaliate. Maybe this is why we have so many stories of prisoner abuse now.
After seeing this, I felt numb with disbelief. Then I felt Rage, and Anger. I started to think that we should just "Kill'Em All".
It will take some time for me to sort this out in my mind. But I must, Since I don't want to become one of the "Monsters" when I ship out for Iraq in two months.
Good Luck Zach & Fam.
Please Pray For Us All!
"Hurria said..."
So then you agree with the beheading of infidels?
"Hurria said..."
Why don't you try learning something before you start throwing around terms.
Would you care to share with us your own religious beliefs? What brand of religion do you study?
How do you justify your former leaders attempts to build Weapons of Massive Aggression? Do you think he would not have used them to flatten a few cities? Israel maybe?
Did you protest when he developed a nuclear weapons program?
Did you tell him that it might cause your country to be invaded? Did you tell him that he is one of the handfuls of vicious fanatic criminals when he murdered his way to the Iraq Presidency?
Or did you tell him when he continued to murder after he got there?
Would you have said "Saddam you are killing Us"? Of course not. Because you would be taking a Dirt Nap with the Real Citizens who stood up to him or were just unfortunate to get "Noticed" by him or his henchmen.
Maybe you should have, because no one is listening to YOUR self righteous cries of, Get Out! Get Out Of My Country! now.
One would think you might show us even the smallest measure of gratitude for doing what you could not do yourself, by ridding you of YOUR dictator.
Was life so good for you when your own president ran Rape Rooms? How about the Torture Prisons? Were you "Happy" then or just plain ignorant with fear?
Americans generally don't like to wear out our welcome. But the Work of ridding you of your future potential dictators, so that we don't have to come back again, is not done yet. Since the "Handful" of vicious fanatic criminals is spread so widely throughout your country.
self-righteous naivete Indeed!
"Hurria said..."
And I love the sense of outrage on the part of people like you
This says everything about her.
She was probably one of saddam's HenchWomen. Thats why someone so outspoken as her isn't taking a dirt nap now.
Just like the Nazis after germany fell, she's longing for "The Good Old Days"
Sol: Comparing someone to the Nazis because they want your troops out of their country is a disgusting slur that denies the suffering of Iraqis and cheapens the horror of the Nazi regime. Whatever we think of the war, life for most Iraqis is far worse now than before we invaded. Even the CIA and MI5 admit we have turned Iraq into a playground for gangsters and terrorists. Maybe if we had to live under these conditions we'd want to see the back of our occupiers and prefer to fix our country up for ourselves instead.
As for "anonymous"; Maybe Hurria protested against Saddam, maybe she didn't. But our governments sure as hell didn't when they were funding his rise to power or his war with Iran, selling him weapons and turning a blind eye to his atrocities, or claiming half a million dead Iraqi children was "a price worth paying". As for WMDs, you must be the last person in the world who seriously believes that cr@p: there were no WMDs, barely even any "programs", and certainly no nukes. If you want illegal and undeclared nukes, try looking in Dimona.
"Dirt naps": Anywhere between 25,000 and 100,000 Iraqis are taking a "dirt nap" right now, since our invasion. Those figures are certainly in the same ball-park as Saddam himself, and getting worse. We are destroying Iraq in order to "save" it for Bechtel and Halliburton. No wonder they want us out.
Taff
Hurria>
"Hurria said..."
I'm not American Hurria, I'm French. I've been totally opposed to that war, but there is no excuse to that savagery.
"Savagery is not the answer".
Anywhere between 25,000 and 100,000 Iraqis are taking a "dirt nap" right now, since our invasion.
OK, now tell us how many of these were combatant deaths.
Hurria,
When I read your comments, your condemnation of these awful acts of beheading civilians doesn't appear very clearly - in between lines, I read nearly an excuse (kind of "you know, we didn't begin..."). But I can be wrong, my English is not as good as yours.
Whishing a peaceful future to all Irakies, a soon as possible.
Alain
Anonymous said:
Anywhere between 25,000 and 100,000 Iraqis are taking a "dirt nap" right now, since our invasion.
"OK, now tell us how many of these were combatant deaths."
This BBC report gives you an overview of the Iraqi Body Count study that concluded that 25,000 Iraqi civilians (i.e. non-combatants) had been killed during the first 2 years of the war (more since, no doubt). Just over 40% were killed by coalition forces (especially around the time of the invasion of course), another 40% or so by criminal gangs, and the rest by "insurgents", although of course the "insurgents" are getting more kills in these days. Many people regard the 25,000 as a low figure, as it is based on deaths reported or occurring at hospitals etc. Because of the difficulty in gathering this information, we have absolutely no idea how many other Iraqi civilians have been killed, and the British medical journal "The Lancet" reported another study suggesting up to 100,000 mght have died. We know exactly how many coalition troops have been killed, but we can't even estimate the Iraqi dead to the nearest 10,000.
Does that help?
Taff
Taff,
Thank you for backing up your claims with the data.
I agree that these innocent civilian deaths are horribly unfortunate.
It is also most unfortunate that the enemy chooses to hide amongst the innocent, and use them as a shield. If they were to come out of hiding and face us like the fierce fighters they claim to be, this would all be over in short order.
Anonymous,
See the comments on Zach's post "War in the eyes of man" (30 July) for some detailed discussion of why the Iraqi "insurgents" do not "come out of hiding and face us like the fierce fighters they claim to be". They're not complete idiots, whatever else they may be, and clearly have their own concept of "force protection".
Taff
"Taff"
"IF they were to come out of hiding"
I have read the post you mentioned. And you are right they are not complete idiots at all.
Hurria,
For the most part the "enemy" are Iraqi citizens who are living in their cities and homes.
You can't have it both ways, Either your people are innocent and are just caught up in the middle of this, or, they have taken up arms against the US, which WOULD make them the "Enemy".
Also meaning you should stop trying to fault the US for not being able to distinguish between the "Innocent" & The "Enemy" Iraqi when protesting about their Deaths.
Furthermore, By your claims here, your people prefer the company of these savage Insurgents.
Thank you for showing us your true colors here in trying to have it both ways.
Good points made in your usual robust manner, Hurria, although the occupiers are not the only "savages" in Iraq right now, as you yourself admit.
But in case anybody else is any doubt what the legal responsibilities of an occupying power might be, check out the 4th Geneva Convention.
These rules were not drafted by weakling liberal peaceniks, but by the Western powers in response to the horrors committed by the Nazis in the countries they occupied during WWII. Why do we breach them so casually?
Taff
Not trying to disagree with you, Hurria, but "my" government is the UK, not the US. Probably doesn't make much difference to you, but it does to us. And you might be surprised to know how much sympathy there is for the suffering of the Iraqi people here in the UK - Blair's war is definitely not popular here.
Wishing you peace.
Taff
Still, you re elected the buffoon Blair. What a shame.
Not me personally, I assure you, but yes, a shame indeed. The archaic unfairness of the UK electoral system made it very difficult for us to dislodge the mendacious Bush-worshipping little weasel, unfortunately, and the other main party (the Conservatives) are even worse, both for Iraq and for Britain.
But our forces, unlike the US, may be subject to the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court for breaches of international law or the Geneva Conventions. So even though our troops are still in Iraq, there is considerable political sensitivity here to allegations of abuses against Iraqi civilians. And there was also a great deal of opposition here to British forces being involved in the US attack on Fallujah last year (some of our troops were moved up to provide support for this attack, although they were not directly involved).
But in the end I agree with you that we should bring our troops home and let Iraqis decide the future of their country.
taff
Hurria,
1) No one will fault you for wanting to survive.
2) Your chances of survival will increase greatly when you stop pointing weapons at us.
3) If you are trying to kill me and my fellow soldiers, YOU ARE A BAD GUY - PERIOD!
4) The Savage is the one who sees where an IED has been planted, but will say nothing and allow my fellow soldiers to be killed by it. The Savage is the one who kills HIS OWN people for actually doing something to try and take their country back by joining the new Iraqi police force or military. The Savage is the one who Harbors these harbors these "Citizens" knowing what they have done.
last anon, you seem to forget that the US invaded Iraq, a nation that had never been an aggressor against us, and did so in violation of US and UN laws.
Hurria and taff, it's great to see comments from intellegent, civilized people. And there are quite a few here in the US and we're working to take back our government but it's looking like a long hard road against ignorance and greed.
Oppps Zack, I originaly clicked on the comment lead to tell you you're a lucky man to have a lovely compassionate wife. Good luck, best wishes and prayers on coming home to her and your family in one piece. As a veteran I understand your pain in being seperated from those you love.
"last anon, you seem to forget that the US invaded Iraq, a nation that had never been an aggressor against us, and did so in violation of US and UN laws.
"
Thats debateable, however a soldiers orders are not. Many of us are just trying to make it through this with as few scars as possible. At least in VietNam we would cut eachother some slack and stay out of the others way every once in awhile.
anon, I'm not trying to start an agument here and I certainly want to see as many (preferably all) of our soldiers come home safe and sound. But your statement that a soldiers orders aren't debatable isn't quite true either. The Military Code of Justice says that a soldier is not obligated to follow illegal orders. And the MCJ trumps all other orders so that does indeed leave some room for debate. Hey I was a soldier too once and I do understand that it certainly isn't encouraged in the ranks to question orders I'm just saying that it is indeed legal to do so.
Not to make excuses, but you know as well as I do that the line between Lawful & UnLawful orders can be Blurred. I knew a soldier who allowed himself to unjustly punished simply because his punishment would have been over by time he would have gotten any results by fighting it, Which I urged him to do. That is a sad state for our army to be in, but as the song says "Thats Just The Way It Is & Some Things Will Never Change"
yeah I know. And I know what type of people do the blurring too. When I was in we called them scum, now they are running the country.
I'm certainly in no position to make an informed argument against your perspectives and I will not. If we (U.S.) have nefarious intentions then I will be quite saddened.
I do believe the merits of our foreign policy must be discerned from multiple perspectives, yours not being the least relevent.
Yes, I do like to see genuine happiness as shown in your photo. Good luck to you Zach and your lovely wife.
JIM.
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