Much has been written and spoken since the Commander Guy/Decider, in his stumbling manor, even reading what others wrote, tried once again to re-write history, How did this clown ever get through college, let alone high school, grade scholl well apples and shy smiles used to work wonders!
So this lowly carpenter, vietnam vet and thought of as having good commonsense, at least in my younger years, decided to chime in also.
If the Congress, the Media, and the Country had listened to those of us, Millions in Numbers, not only in this country but around the world, what has happened and what is to come, would not be!
I might add even within the peace movement the lessons, this country said it would never forget, weren't brought forth by the thousands of us who served in Vietnam and understood what the invasion of Iraq would bring forth, a bloody Guerilla Insurgency fighting against a conventional War Machine with convention thought and forces.
And all one needed to do was look at the history of the region. The short of that is that these countries came about from previous occupations, empire building, and puppet governments of the powerful. People tired of having others trying to Control them and Force them to be other than what they were, themselves, and trying to change their cultures.
Revisionist history : As soon as this admiinistration came out with those two words it told everyone, who were paying attention, exactly what they had already been doing and would be using more and more to justify the Propaganda Machine, set up in the White House, by Rove and Cheney, and the Think Tanks elsewhere, to further their twisted goals of an Imperial Presidency sans a Representative Government!
And the Republican controlled Congress were more than willing to have it that way. Feeling it would solidify their seats and basking in the Power and Wealth they could generate while collecting their pay, from All of us Taxpayers, and using the Treasury to further a Total Take Over of the Country and it's assets.
Little work, as shown already being accomplished, in the Congressional reconds. No representation as their Think Tanks came up with catchy phrases, of Propaganda, turning the Nations attention on the trivial, not the Important.
First lets look at the 'Revisionist History' of the occupation of Japan. This has been a mainstay of argument from the Administration, the Republicans, their Talking Heads, and the minions of their supportors. The latter being either to lazy or unitelligent to bother looking directly at the real historys of the past, and showing it in their comments, printed and spoken. The others were being pushed by their well oiled Propaganda Machine and the Media were eating it up, also to damn lazy, or cheap, to search out the real facts.
Aug. 24: John Dower, a professor at MIT, talks about his displeasure of the way President Bush used his quotes in the Iraq/ Vietnam speech on Wednesday.
Revisionist History - Japan and Vietnam
Following the suggestion, of a google search of Prof. Dower, a number of links pop up:
And there's plenty more if you're interested, just follow the suggestion as well.
Now how further off base can the twit, occuping the Peoples House, and his criminal circle, be in trying to shift the causes of their extremely failed policy decisions onto others by chiming in with an attempt to compare completely Iraq with Vietnam. A Vietnam Era none of them understood in the least, as doesn't the greater majority of this apathedic society.
If they had understood they Never would have invaded a country that did absolutely nothing to deserve the death and destruction.
Their only fault was having a head of state, installed by us, paid by our intelligence community, and supported by our government for many years, while being the extremely brutal dictator we always knew he would be. Just as we have so many times before!
Lets get a little lesson, via recent writings after the re-visionist speach, on Vietnam and Iraq. Real history books and scholars can fill in any blanks.
Officials say country fought for a 'righteous cause' during war with U.S. "About the war by the United States in Vietnam, we all know that Vietnamese people went to war to defend our motherland and therefore for a righteous cause," the government spokesman said.
His remarks to the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention in Kansas City on Wednesday were an abuse of historical fact—no surprise, perhaps, coming from a president who is just now catching up with the Political Science 101 reading he shrugged off at Yale.
And the truth is, the slow bleed of America’s might and prestige on the streets of Iraq makes for a far more compelling picture of U.S. weakness than any Al Qaeda propaganda could ever do.
The only really appropriate analogy to Vietnam is that Bush’s policy of Iraqification—handing over things to the Iraqis—is far too similar to Vietnamization.
"It is very ill-considered and, frankly, cavalier to make use of Vietnam insuch a way to extricate himself from the Iraq debate," said Ton Nu Thi Ninh, former deputy chair of the foreign relations committee of Vietnam's National Assembly.
Vietnam was "an unjustified and a wrong war in the first place so to start analysing things only from the withdrawal of US troops is really puzzling", she said. "The root of the problem is not the withdrawal, it's the very fact of starting up the war in the first place."
Vietnam's communist rulers have struggled for 30 years to promote recognition of their nation as a country, rather than a war, as they sought to bury the ghosts of the past and forge an amicable working relationship with the US, their former enemy.
"They could have achieved what they think they wanted without the war. But they were regretful about losing the war, so they continued fighting in their mind." Ms Ninh believes the US has failed to learn the lessons of Vietnam.
Many wonder, with thoughts of the reasons why, the highly, and lowly, paid voices of the media, who call themselves 'journalist' with 'integrity' and 'intelligence' {except for FOX, I don't think there's a journalist in their stables}, it took what 31/2 to 4 years to finally get not only a voice of question and real journalism, and from all places the sports side of reporting, and apparently a group behind that voice dedicated to the truth and reality of these times and about the fascists {what would you call them} who want to gain total control, leaving the future generations to clean up the mess.
There are many dedicated real journalist and investigative journalist that have been right at the heels of these Neo-Cons, but for the most part one had to search for them as the media mogols tried to keep their voices quite {another extremely failed business decision by media ceo's, they could have gotten these folks for a song instead of the high priced propaganda robots they had}.
Lets let Keith tell all, again, about Vietnam and Iraq, after the bushes visit there last year.
Keith Olbermann Special Comment on Bush in Vietnam
Olbermann: Lessons from the Vietnam War Keith Olbermann responds to Bush's comparison between Vietnam and Iraq Nov 20, 2006 It is a shame and it is embarrassing to us all when President Bush travels 8,000 miles only to wind up avoiding reality again.
And continue with that great dedicated staff, who are there collecting the histories with the trackbacks and experianced speakers who actually spend time getting answers to their questions before speaking {something none of the rush talking heads would bother with knowing fools will believe anything they're told with the contradictions and all, and line their pockets with wealth},wether Keith is there or not.
BUSH COMPARES IRAQ TO VIET NAM ~OLBERMANN AUGUST 22, 2007
One thing the bush spoke of, 'The Killing Fields', by his use of that term he also meant what occurred in Cambodia. Many think that those 'Killing Fields' were a direct results of Nixons Carpet Bombing and Cross Border invasion of that country that hastened the rise of the forces that took control, eventually forcing the Vietnamesse to intervene and put down those forces, than leave.
Will there be a bloodbath if the U.S. Troops leave Iraq, nobody can say for sure, there already is and will be as long as we stay, that's a fact. But I'll bet many are having the thoughts I am, there will be, Thanks To Us!!
We, along with almost all the so called advanced western nations, have been playing the religious sects, the tribes, the cultures and all those countries off on each other for decades. Occupiing,Installing their heads of state, supporting the dictators we either instilled on the people or those, who by default and coups, rule with impunity.
We have raised the Hatred levels amoung the people to a rage that has brought about the long running global Criminal terrorism leading up to, and yes 9/11, and that which has followed!
Right after the whittle bush claimed 'Victory - Mission Accomplished' everyone should have gotten the surrounding nation states together, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Iran and Syria, adding in All the religious leaders of the religious sects, for it's in their region and need for stability, for however long it would take to come to the aid of a country with no longer a leadership and destroyed!
We've long ago passed that point. We sit on the doorstep of Iran, condemning them in a wide veriaty of ways, with the threat of invasion, and don't understand why they are speaking in hardline terms and possibly actions!
As long as we occupy everything happening in Iraq is our Responsibility!
Wether we leave or stay whatever happens is Our Doing! Whatever happens on the World Stage, i.e. Criminal Terrorism, comes now from the direct results of all that has happened and will continue to happen, as long as we are in that region or not!
Last night I posted a report, from ABC News, Here, Here, and Here
In the ABC report they talked with the father. He was none to keen on his sons joining the Military, especially the two younger brothers, after already losing the one son, but he Respected their choice and Backed them as a Father would.
Also in the ABC report we have this:
The family is now secluded in their home; friends say the boys' mother doesn't even want to come out of the bedroom.
"They're shocked, they're stunned," said their pastor Tim McLain Rolen. "The fact that they've been through it before doesn't prepare you for it again."
This is a combination of two reports, ABC still doesn't have their video up.
A Mother becomes a 'GoldStar Mom' for the second time, from the same failed policies.
Respect for 'GoldStar Families', as talked about in the first, like that for those who serve, Veterans, quickly wains in this country, or certainly is lacking, especially in todays world as few are actually sacrificing!
Politicians use the Troops, and 'GoldStar Moms and Families' as political tools and backdrops for their Policies of Choice, certainly not need, and as the Political Tool, calling it 'Patriotism' as they wave the Flag for more death and destruction with fear thrown into the mix, seeking support for already failed policies to further their own selfish needs and wants, Power!
'GoldStar Family Members' who speak of that support are rarely, if ever, attacked for their support, for they shouldn't, not by those who Respect the loss of their loved ones in Service to Country, right or wrong!
But let a 'GoldStar Mom' speak out, in her grief, against the failed policies of War's of Choice and Profit, and many Attack, Verbally Spitting and even pose threats against! For that isn't 'Politically Correct'!
Nothing changes, for that also took place in our last major Debacle, one I and many Vet brothers and sisters served, and Many Died! One who's Lessons, this country, as a single voice, said it would Never Forget, but in our Society 'Never' is a short lived term.
Then as now we put those, rather quickly, who actually Sacrifice quickly out of site and out of our Beautiful Minds for we can't be bothered with 'Remembrance' nor do we want to hear of the 'Costs', in Sacrifice and in what is Owed in taking care of those who return!
There are now 3724 DoD confirmed U.S. Military Death's from Iraq alone, and counting!
That's 3724 'GoldStar Mothers'!
That's thousands of 'GoldStar Family Members'!
The ones constantly in my thoughts are the Children left behind!
War's Developing Casualty: Military Kids
And not only those who lost Fathers and Mothers that serve our country, but especially those in the countries invaded and occupied, for many are killed and maimed, and those who survive quickly lose their childhood to the death and destruction around them.
Iraqi Orphan Wins Soldiers' Hearts
"Child of War"
And also those Veterans, my brothers and sisters, who can never leave the battlefields behind, it's in all of us, but for some the Trauma rises to the surface of the mind triggered by that around them bringing the battlefields back to life!
What's The Cost? Suicide - PTSD
These conflicts, especially Iraq, have greatly damaged what this country is supposed to be about, and endangered it's national security in the hatreds it has raised around this planet!
We will be living the results for many years, giving the children a world that should never have been!!!
Bring Them Home NOW, and Take Care Of Them When They Return, Everything Owed!!
If they were sent to fight, they are too few. If they were sent to die, they are too many!
Family and friends stand next to the caskets of Marine Corp Cpl. Jeremiah Baro and Lance Cpl. Jared Hubbard, both of whom died during combat in Iraq in November 2004. Jared's younger brother, Nathan, was killed Wednesday in a helicopter crash in Iraq, and told reporters that he was serving on behalf of his late brother. (Newscom) By EMILY FRIEDMAN
As stated above Nathan Hubbard was on the chopper that went down the other day in Iraq!
Nathan was over in Iraq with a Third Brother, Jason.
And according to the televised report, on ABC, Jason was in the second chopper that went back to try and find survivors of the crash!
According to the U.S. military, all 14 U.S. soldiers aboard the helicopter were killed when the aircraft crashed due to mechanical problems.
The family is now secluded in their home; friends say the boys' mother doesn't even want to come out of the bedroom.
"They're shocked, they're stunned," said their pastor Tim McLain Rolen. "The fact that they've been through it before doesn't prepare you for it again."
Friends were leaving messages on Nathan's MySpace site apparently hearing that he only had 40 more days In-Theater. Now messages of condolences have flooded Nathan's page!
Why in the Hell are these Military Personal still over in this fiasco created by a Totally Incompitant, Sorry Ass Excuse of a man?????
WHY???
And why is that Sorry Ass still in Office!!
Nathan had enlisted with his other brother, Jason, just nine months after Jared was killed, and told a local newspaper that he was serving on behalf of his brother.
The first Hubbard brother to die, Jared, was killed in 2004 while working as a part of a two-man sniper team. Alongside him was one of his best friends from high school, Jeremiah Baro, who was also killed.
Above explains the funeral photo, they buried the two friends Together!
Now this family will be burying a second son!
The third and only surviving brother, Jason, is en route to the United States from Iraq, the family spokeswoman told ABC News.
Why has this family, amoung So Many, Sacrificed So Much, while Supporters of the Sorry Ass haven't and won't Sacrifice A Damn Thing!!
Bring Them Home NOW, and Take Care Of Them When They Return, Everything Owed!!
On an ABC News report, one I have not seen anywhere else, there is this report of a gathering of women and men, children and adults; Muslims, Christians, Jews, Druze, Bedouin and Palestinians, both secular and religious. This takes place in Israel each year, last years was canciled because of the War, and was started in 2001.
This years gathering was from August 14-16 in the olive groves of Latrun Monastery midway between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
Jews and Muslims Making Grassroots Peace A diverse cast meets in Israel, trying to teach politicians how to make peace.
Apparently it has had a rapid growth since it's conception, from a few hundred participants, the first year, to and estimated 6000 this year. This is Grassroots at it's best and a Grassroots movement that can only expand, especially in the Middle East, as more understand that the leaders of the political and faction groups, on all sides, are not interested in a peace that strips them of the growing power they seek and gain from the fear they spread.
As one of the organizers says:
Gabriel Meyer, co-founder of the Project: "Peace is not a concept or an ideology; it's a way of being. We are surprising reality one heart at a time, until it changes."
A quick search brought up one short article in the The Jerusalem Post: In the name of peace
The three day festival is called "On the Way to Sulha." Their site Sulha Peace Project, describes it so
A grassroots organization inspired by the indigenous process of mediation {Sulha}, aims to rebuild trust, restore dignity and move beyond the political agenda.
Many already know that there is a large Peace movement, of diverse groups, in Israel and the Palestinian onclaves.
One other group, of Israelli and Palestinian combatants, started up only a few years ago, and have grown.
We are a group of Israeli and Palestinian individuals who were actively involved in the cycle of violence in our area. The Israelis served as combat soldiers in the Israel Defense Forces and the Palestinians were involved in acts of violence in the name of Palestinian liberation.
We all used weapons against one another, and looked at each other only through weapon sights; however today we cooperate and commit ourselves to the following:
We no longer believe that the conflict can be resolved through violence.
We believe that the blood shed will not end unless we act together to terminate the occupation and stop all forms of violence.
We call for the establishment of a Palestinian State, alongside the State of Israel. The two states can exist in peace and security beside each other. We will use only non-violent means to achieve our goals and call for both societies to end violence.
When these ex-combatants went public they invited Ellen Barfield, a board member of Veterans For Peace to attend, in Israel, their first public event.
You can find what she wrote of her visit Here at my site.
A little snippet
I was greatly honored to be able to represent Veterans for Peace at the first public event of the new peace organization Combatants for Peace, Palestinian and Israeli former fighters who have renounced violence and now work together for peace and justice.
Last weekend, from august 15th to august 19th two of their members were in St Louis for the Veterans for Peace annual conference
Combatants for Peace members, Yonatan Gur and Raed Hadar represented our group in annual Veterans for Peace convention in St. Louis, Missouri. During the convention they talked in the main plenary and took part in various workshops concerning the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the war in Iraq. Raed and Yonatan also gave interviews to several independent newspapers, spoke in a local Muslim-American radio station and spoke to members of the Jewish community in Saint Louis. Raed and Yonatan arrived at St. Louis after giving two successful lectures in Chicago, Illinois. One was with members of Brit Tzedek v'Shalom, and with members of the Jewish community; the second was with Arab and Jewish peace activists from Chicago.
There isn't much up about the conferance yet, abit too soon to put it all together, at the VFP site. There are a few articles that were written about it that can be searched out, if interested. But I did find the following photo at the site:
Photo is a human peace sign made under the St Louis arch!
Those of you in California, if close by and interested in finding out more about Combatants for Peace, they are on a speaking tour of the state.
Speaking Tour
Combatants for Peace members, Shimon Katz and Raed Hadar will be in Los Angeles in late August as guests of Topanga Peace Alliance and will give several talks.
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS:
Tuesday, August 21, 2007, 7:30 p.m. Cousins' Club of Orange County Irvine Ranch Water District Office 15600 Sand Canyon Avenue Irvine, CA 92618
Thursday, August 23, 2007, 7:00 p.m. Topanga Peace Alliance Topanga Community House 1440 North Topanga Canyon Blvd. Topanga, CA 90290
Friday, August 24, 2007, 7:00 a.m. Interfaith Communities United For Justice and Peace Immanuel Presbyterian Church 3300 Wilshire Blvd. Los Angeles, CA
Friday, August 24, 2007, 7:30 p.m. Beth Shir Sholom 1827 California Ave. Santa Monica, CA 90403
Saturday, August 25, 2007, 7:00 p.m. First Congregational Church 241 Cedar Avenue Long Beach, CA 90802
Sunday, August 26, 2007, 11:30 a.m. Unitarian Universalist Community Church 1260 18th St. Santa Monica, CA 90404
Sunday, August 26, 2007, 2:00 p.m. Vets For Peace Arlington West Santa Monica Beach, CA
Tuesday, August 28, 2007, 7:00 p.m. All Saints Church 132 Euclid Ave. Pasadena, CA 91101
I found the link to this study through another site that covers information for the U.S. Military.
An extensive study of the British military found that thousands of frontline veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan face escalating mental health problems, alcoholism, and a family breakdown. The report in the British Medical Journal Online states that prolonged periods in conflict are linked to higher levels of post traumatic stress disorder, psychological distress and problems at home.
Now many of us know of, and have followed, the reports of what the DoD has been doing in diagnosing many returning U.S. Military Personal with pre-existing conditions when these soldiers file claims or seek help for the trauma's they are now suffering from what they have experianced In-Theater Iraq and Afganistan.
Many of us Vets, from our previous misadventures, know of many civilian researchers and related professions, along with veterans who went into these professions knowing and understanding what their fellow vets were going through and were seeking a better understanding of the syndrom so they could help their brothers better, who have done extensive study in the area's of PTSD and related mental issues as to the effects of War on the partcipants and the civilians who live through Man's Hell On Earth.
I'm baked from work and the continuing heat, so mind isn't registering the thoughts it should. Below you'll find snippets of this study, with little commentary from me. Some may want to visit the site for furthering their knowledge though, I would suggest it.
And while you're visiting keep in mind that this government, Us, seem to give only verbal concern with our statements that we should be funding extensive studies into subjects like Combat PTSD, yet we loose interest and rarely carry through on our promises, probably because they come from our Representatives, who we hire, and than are quickly put out of our minds. But we who serve know full well what many are going through!
To assess the relation between frequency and duration of deployment of UK armed forces personnel on mental health.
Participants
Operational history in past three years of a randomly chosen stratified sample of 5547 regulars with experience of deployment.
Now the timeframes of deployment should set off that little bulb in your heads. Think 'Nam and 12 month tours and having to volunteer, for the greater majority, for any further In-Theater duty.
Results
Personnel who were deployed for 13 months or more in the past three years were more likely to fulfil the criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder (odds ratio 1.55, 95% confidence interval 1.07 to 2.32), show caseness on the general health questionnaire (1.35, 1.10 to 1.63), and have multiple physical symptoms (1.49, 1.19 to 1.87). A significant association was found between duration of deployment and severe alcohol problems. Exposure to combat partly accounted for these associations. The associations between number of deployments in the past three years and mental disorders were less consistent than those related to duration of deployment. Post-traumatic stress disorder was also associated with a mismatch between expectations about the duration of deployment and the reality.
Conclusions
A clear and explicit policy on the duration of each deployment of armed forces personnel may reduce the risk of post-traumatic stress disorder. An association was found between deployment for more than a year in the past three years and mental health that might be explained by exposure to combat.
Introduction
British commanders have raised concerns about the ability of the armed forces to cope with simultaneous major operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the UK armed forces have been asked to do more than was envisaged in the most recent defence review.
Methods
This study is based on the first phase of a cohort study of UK armed forces personnel in which we compared the mental and physical health of those deployed to Iraq between 18 January and 28 April 2003 with those who were in the armed forces but not deployed to Iraq.
Now they have a few tables to view with the descriptions below, visit site to view:
Table 1 Duration and frequency of deployments since 2000 for about a three year period, by service and combat role (regulars only). Values are numbers (percentages) Table 2 Association between duration and number of deployments since 2000, for about a three year period, and problems at home during and after deployment (n=5547) Table 3 Prevalence and association between duration and number of deployments since 2000, for about a three year period, and psychological symptoms, adjusted for confounders and explanatory factors (n=5547) Table 4 Association between difference of expected and actual duration of last deployment and psychological symptoms
Conclusions
Our results indicate that adherence to a clear and explicit policy on duration of each deployment may have beneficial effects on mental health. Overstretch in the UK armed forces may have consequences on problems at home, and deterioration of psychological health may be more apparent in those directly exposed to combat.
What is already known on this topic UK armed forces are being deployed more often than previously, so called overstretch To allow objective monitoring the UK armed forces have recommended maximum deployment levels, called harmony guidelines
What this study adds Duration of deployment above established guidelines is associated with more mental health problems Combat exposure, type of deployment, and problems at home partly account for these associations An association was found between expectation that duration of most recent deployment would be shorter than it actually was and post-traumatic stress disorder
At the bottom of the above study you will find the related article link along with a long list of referance material related to the above study.
What is already known on this topic Since the aftermath of the first world war there has been an ongoing discussion on the benefits of screening military personnel for mental health vulnerability before deployment What this study adds Screening before deployment has a low predictability for most common mental health conditions The predictability of screening for post-traumatic stress disorder is higher than for any other mental health problem As the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder is low before deployment, screening for the condition would be inappropriate despite a moderately high predictability
In this second report I found this, Since the aftermath of the first world war there has been an ongoing discussion on the benefits of screening military personnel for mental health vulnerability before deployment, an extremely interesting statement!
At the bottom of this second report ou will find a few more related studies, and again, a listing of referance links for the above.
One of the littlest survivors in Baghdad is 10-month-old Fatima Jbouri, who is now in the care of American medical personnel after gunmen killed her mother and uncle in their Baghdad home.
After the murders, Jbouri was dumped — literally — outside in the garbage on a day when the temperature hit 118 degrees. SNIP
What life have we given to the Survivors from our Extreme Misadventure of Occupation? How many will growup, and their anger grow as well, and seek retaliation for the Destruction we waged on their Families, Homes, and Country, and for No Reason!! The Blood is on All our hands!
All the 'Good Actions Taken', by caring Troops, are wiped out by the Death and Destruction, That's War!
In front of Recruiters, in St Loius, using a Video Game as a recruitment tool!
IVAW confronts military recruiters in St Louis
Iraq Veterans Against the War confronted Army recruiters at a St Louis expo, while they were attending the Veterans For Peace Convention holding their own in tantum. Members of Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) stood in mass company formation and sounded off with "War is not a game" in front of an America's Army game booth staffed with Army recruiters.
The BBC World Service has been monitoring the esculation on a week by week basis. Links to their previous reports, starting with a July 4th report, will follow but this is just one of the recent graphs used:
Security
The graphics and analysis are based on figures from the US and Iraqi authorities, Baghdad's hospitals and three families from different neighbourhoods in the capital.
During the seven days from 9-15 August 540 people were killed in violent incidents across Iraq.
Another graph of extreme interest as to what is apart of 'Counter Insurgency', Winning the Hearts and Minds of the Occupied:
It gives the location of each family in the report.
Keep in mind Iraq has consistant temperatures well above 100degrees at this time of year, and lack of power for comfort is only part of that equation.
BAGHDAD HOSPITALS There's another graph on this part of the report as well.
But this is very telling:
The number of police protecting the hospital has fallen, from 12 to five officers.
Again, 'Winning Hearts and Minds of the Occupied'!
Now someone, in this country, needs to explain the Why we have to search out the News on a War, and not only Iraq but Afganistan as well, that we have Our Military fighting in!
The only real news we seem to get, out of both theaters, comes from foreign correspondents, video and print, while U.S. correspondents seem to Not Leave 'The Green Zone' nor are in any numbers in Afganistan, if at al.
The only good reporting from U.S. correspondents comes from the independants not working for any particular outlet!
We have 'Talking Heads', on the tubes and radio, reporting and leading discussions of so called experts while in comfortable studios in the U.S. rarely setting foot in either theater, if at all, for the majority of the News We Receive!!
VIEWED from Iraq at the tail end of a 15-month deployment, the political debate in Washington is indeed surreal. Counterinsurgency is, by definition, a competition between insurgents and counterinsurgents for the control and support of a population. To believe that Americans, with an occupying force that long ago outlived its reluctant welcome, can win over a recalcitrant local population and win this counterinsurgency is far-fetched. As responsible infantrymen and noncommissioned officers with the 82nd Airborne Division soon heading back home, we are skeptical of recent press coverage portraying the conflict as increasingly manageable and feel it has neglected the mounting civil, political and social unrest we see every day. (Obviously, these are our personal views and should not be seen as official within our chain of command.)
The claim that we are increasingly in control of the battlefields in Iraq is an assessment arrived at through a flawed, American-centered framework. Yes, we are militarily superior, but our successes are offset by failures elsewhere. What soldiers call the battle space remains the same, with changes only at the margins. It is crowded with actors who do not fit neatly into boxes: Sunni extremists, Al Qaeda terrorists, Shiite militiamen, criminals and armed tribes. This situation is made more complex by the questionable loyalties and Janus-faced role of the Iraqi police and Iraqi Army, which have been trained and armed at United States taxpayers expense.
A few nights ago, for example, we witnessed the death of one American soldier and the critical wounding of two others when a lethal armor-piercing explosive was detonated between an Iraqi Army checkpoint and a police one. Local Iraqis readily testified to American investigators that Iraqi police and Army officers escorted the triggermen and helped plant the bomb. These civilians highlighted their own predicament: had they informed the Americans of the bomb before the incident, the Iraqi Army, the police or the local Shiite militia would have killed their families. As many grunts will tell you, this is a near-routine event. Reports that a majority of Iraqi Army commanders are now reliable partners can be considered only misleading rhetoric. The truth is that battalion commanders, even if well meaning, have little to no influence over the thousands of obstinate men under them, in an incoherent chain of command, who are really loyal only to their militias.
Similarly, Sunnis, who have been underrepresented in the new Iraqi armed forces, now find themselves forming militias, sometimes with our tacit support. Sunnis recognize that the best guarantee they may have against Shiite militias and the Shiite-dominated government is to form their own armed bands. We arm them to aid in our fight against Al Qaeda.
However, while creating proxies is essential in winning a counterinsurgency, it requires that the proxies are loyal to the center that we claim to support. Armed Sunni tribes have indeed become effective surrogates, but the enduring question is where their loyalties would lie in our absence. The Iraqi government finds itself working at cross purposes with us on this issue because it is justifiably fearful that Sunni militias will turn on it should the Americans leave.
In short, we operate in a bewildering context of determined enemies and questionable allies, one where the balance of forces on the ground remains entirely unclear. (In the course of writing this article, this fact became all too clear: one of us, Staff Sergeant Murphy, an Army Ranger and reconnaissance team leader, was shot in the head during a time-sensitive target acquisition mission on Aug. 12; he is expected to survive and is being flown to a military hospital in the United States.) While we have the will and the resources to fight in this context, we are effectively hamstrung because realities on the ground require measures we will always refuse namely, the widespread use of lethal and brutal force.
Given the situation, it is important not to assess security from an American-centered perspective. The ability of, say, American observers to safely walk down the streets of formerly violent towns is not a resounding indicator of security. What matters is the experience of the local citizenry and the future of our counterinsurgency. When we take this view, we see that a vast majority of Iraqis feel increasingly insecure and view us as an occupation force that has failed to produce normalcy after four years and is increasingly unlikely to do so as we continue to arm each warring side.
Coupling our military strategy to an insistence that the Iraqis meet political benchmarks for reconciliation is also unhelpful. The morass in the government has fueled impatience and confusion while providing no semblance of security to average Iraqis. Leaders are far from arriving at a lasting political settlement. This should not be surprising, since a lasting political solution will not be possible while the military situation remains in constant flux.
The Iraqi government is run by the main coalition partners of the Shiite-dominated United Iraqi Alliance, with Kurds as minority members. The Shiite clerical establishment formed the alliance to make sure its people did not succumb to the same mistake as in 1920: rebelling against the occupying Western force (then the British) and losing what they believed was their inherent right to rule Iraq as the majority. The qualified and reluctant welcome we received from the Shiites since the invasion has to be seen in that historical context. They saw in us something useful for the moment.
Now that moment is passing, as the Shiites have achieved what they believe is rightfully theirs. Their next task is to figure out how best to consolidate the gains, because reconciliation without consolidation risks losing it all. Washington's insistence that the Iraqis correct the three gravest mistakes we made de-Baathification, the dismantling of the Iraqi Army and the creation of a loose federalist system of government places us at cross purposes with the government we have committed to support.
Political reconciliation in Iraq will occur, but not at our insistence or in ways that meet our benchmarks. It will happen on Iraqi terms when the reality on the battlefield is congruent with that in the political sphere. There will be no magnanimous solutions that please every party the way we expect, and there will be winners and losers. The choice we have left is to decide which side we will take. Trying to please every party in the conflict as we do now will only ensure we are hated by all in the long run.
At the same time, the most important front in the counterinsurgency, improving basic social and economic conditions, is the one on which we have failed most miserably. Two million Iraqis are in refugee camps in bordering countries. Close to two million more are internally displaced and now fill many urban slums. Cities lack regular electricity, telephone services and sanitation. Lucky Iraqis live in gated communities barricaded with concrete blast walls that provide them with a sense of communal claustrophobia rather than any sense of security we would consider normal. In a lawless environment where men with guns rule the streets, engaging in the banalities of life has become a death-defying act. Four years into our occupation, we have failed on every promise, while we have substituted Baath Party tyranny with a tyranny of Islamist, militia and criminal violence. When the primary preoccupation of average Iraqis is when and how they are likely to be killed, we can hardly feel smug as we hand out care packages. As an Iraqi man told us a few days ago with deep resignation, We need security, not free food.
In the end, we need to recognize that our presence may have released Iraqis from the grip of a tyrant, but that it has also robbed them of their self-respect. They will soon realize that the best way to regain dignity is to call us what we are an army of occupation and force our withdrawal.
Until that happens, it would be prudent for us to increasingly let Iraqis take center stage in all matters, to come up with a nuanced policy in which we assist them from the margins but let them resolve their differences as they see fit. This suggestion is not meant to be defeatist, but rather to highlight our pursuit of incompatible policies to absurd ends without recognizing the incongruities. We need not talk about our morale. As committed soldiers, we will see this mission through.
Buddhika Jayamaha is an Army specialist. Wesley D. Smith is a sergeant. Jeremy Roebuck is a sergeant. Omar Mora is a sergeant. Edward Sandmeier is a sergeant. Yance T. Gray is a staff sergeant. Jeremy A. Murphy is a staff sergeant.
