The stories of Iraq
Some soldiers enlisted with the military due to patriotism. Some signed up to pay for college. Some signed up to escape rough neighborhoods or Small Town, U.S.A. Some signed up to hunt down bin Laden.
Some soldiers return from their stints in Iraq weary and in need of normalcy and peace. Some come home proud of having removed a brutal dictator from power. Some come home with some combination of weariness and pride. Some come home wounded - or not at all.
Whatever the case may be, the voices and experiences of those young men and women in Iraq, Afghanistan and throughout the world who are the friends, brothers, sisters, cousins, boyfriends, girlfriends, husbands and wives of all of us deserve to be heard.
Over 2,700 people died on American soil in the attacks of September 11. As a result, there was a surge in contacts to military recruiters following 9-11 (though recruitment has waned following the invasion of Iraq). The events the followed have led our military and its troops to Afghanistan (a widely supported war) and Iraq (a war on which the American populace has been split – though the trend is downward with most American currently opposing the war).
Now, over 1,900 coalition soldiers have died in Iraq (1,748) and Afghanistan (216) – nearly all Americans (1,573 in Iraq, 179 in Afghanistan). In addition, at least 12,147 U.S. men and women soldiers have been wounded in Iraq.
Statistics are nice to get a general overview but do little to connect on a personal level and can get lost in context. A recent New York Times article relays the voices and experiences of the Marine Crops company with the highest casualty rate in Iraq. The unit blames the lack of armored vehicles for dozens of unnecessary deaths.
Operation Truth tells the story of an American troop who took a leave of absence from law school to enlist with the Army Reserves because of his love for his country and his desire to prevent another September 11. Though he calls enlisting the “best decision of [his] life,” SPC Richard Murray has returned from Iraq feeling misled and wishing for the safe return of his fellow young American men and women as well as the minimizing of the loss of Iraqi civilian life.
SGT Shawn Wilkens tells his of his experiences in Iraq on a Long Island message board. SGT Wilkens says he believes in the Iraq war. He goes on to say that he believes the troops there are well protected by “state of the art” armor and that precision bombs are minimizing Iraqi civilian casualties. SGT Wilkens also expresses thanks to the Americans who are against the war, whom he still believes has been supportive of the experiences of the soldiers abroad.
As powerful as they may be, the voices of American troops are not the only ones to be heard. The varying voices and experiences of the Iraqi people deserve to be heard as well. We should seek out and listen to the voices of the Iraqis who wish to be free of outside interference and daily warfare. We should also seek out and listen to the voices of the millions of Iraqis who were able to cast ballots in a democratic election for the first time in decades. And we should also seek out and listen to the voices of the friends and families of the tens of thousands of dead Iraqi civilians.
For more of stories from our troops in Iraq, go to Operation Truth.
--posted by Miles Granderson
Some soldiers return from their stints in Iraq weary and in need of normalcy and peace. Some come home proud of having removed a brutal dictator from power. Some come home with some combination of weariness and pride. Some come home wounded - or not at all.
Whatever the case may be, the voices and experiences of those young men and women in Iraq, Afghanistan and throughout the world who are the friends, brothers, sisters, cousins, boyfriends, girlfriends, husbands and wives of all of us deserve to be heard.
Over 2,700 people died on American soil in the attacks of September 11. As a result, there was a surge in contacts to military recruiters following 9-11 (though recruitment has waned following the invasion of Iraq). The events the followed have led our military and its troops to Afghanistan (a widely supported war) and Iraq (a war on which the American populace has been split – though the trend is downward with most American currently opposing the war).
Now, over 1,900 coalition soldiers have died in Iraq (1,748) and Afghanistan (216) – nearly all Americans (1,573 in Iraq, 179 in Afghanistan). In addition, at least 12,147 U.S. men and women soldiers have been wounded in Iraq.
Statistics are nice to get a general overview but do little to connect on a personal level and can get lost in context. A recent New York Times article relays the voices and experiences of the Marine Crops company with the highest casualty rate in Iraq. The unit blames the lack of armored vehicles for dozens of unnecessary deaths.
Operation Truth tells the story of an American troop who took a leave of absence from law school to enlist with the Army Reserves because of his love for his country and his desire to prevent another September 11. Though he calls enlisting the “best decision of [his] life,” SPC Richard Murray has returned from Iraq feeling misled and wishing for the safe return of his fellow young American men and women as well as the minimizing of the loss of Iraqi civilian life.
SGT Shawn Wilkens tells his of his experiences in Iraq on a Long Island message board. SGT Wilkens says he believes in the Iraq war. He goes on to say that he believes the troops there are well protected by “state of the art” armor and that precision bombs are minimizing Iraqi civilian casualties. SGT Wilkens also expresses thanks to the Americans who are against the war, whom he still believes has been supportive of the experiences of the soldiers abroad.
As powerful as they may be, the voices of American troops are not the only ones to be heard. The varying voices and experiences of the Iraqi people deserve to be heard as well. We should seek out and listen to the voices of the Iraqis who wish to be free of outside interference and daily warfare. We should also seek out and listen to the voices of the millions of Iraqis who were able to cast ballots in a democratic election for the first time in decades. And we should also seek out and listen to the voices of the friends and families of the tens of thousands of dead Iraqi civilians.
For more of stories from our troops in Iraq, go to Operation Truth.
--posted by Miles Granderson
posted by Anonymous at 4:58 PM
6 Comments:
"Statistics are nice to get a general overview but do little to connect on a personal level and can get lost in context."
I like this quote. How bout we connect on a personal level with those being liberated of their dollars to perpatuate a Ponzi scheme.
"Yeah. I'm a United States of American. I'm tired of people calling themselves X American (African American, Native American, etc) but that's for another day. I really just want to tell everyone about my experiences with Social Security. Twice a week I get a my paycheck. I see a line item for some tax that I never remember agreeing to pay. I don't remember anyone that represents me agree to force me to pay that either. I'm so glad I'm being represented (sarcasm). I don't like being forced to donate to a charity no matter how worthy the cause. It just ain't right. So twice a week I have a sick feeling of being robbed. I console myself by saying that at least its not prison rape. *sob*"
Well, at least that blind partisan Hans didn't post this one. Instead, they found us a new blind partisan to entertain us today!
I guess if Rock the Vote can call itself "non-partisan" after all of this completely slanted behavior on both Iraq and Social Security, both the Democratic and Republican parties should call themselves "non-partisan" as well. In fact, Barbara Boxer and Ted Kennedy must be non-partisan, George W. Bush and Tom DeLay must be non-partisan, and Joseph Stalin must have been non-partisan, too.
Hitler? Definitely must have been non-partisan. Osama bin Laden? He has no agenda, he's just non-partisan. MoveOn.org? Of course they're non-partisan too. In fact, nobody has a political agenda. No agenda at all.
Everyone is non-partisan just like Rock the Vote.
Todd, come on pal. Your ridiculous to say the bombs used today are not precision bombs. Educate yourself on which country has taken the most time, money, manpower, and decency to create weapons that cause the least amount of collateral damage.
Why aren't you ridiculing the terrorists around the world for the precision of their weapons. Where were you complaining about the precision of the planes on 9-11? Where were you complaining about the precision of car bombs going off in crowds of innocent civilians? Where were you when Saddam was gasing cilvilians at will? It's the stated goal of terrorists and many of our enemies to kill as many innocent people as possible.
I can't stand hearing people claim that the US hasn't done more than any other country in the world to handle warfare in the most precise and least cataclysmic way.
Before you start whining and complaining about our military and government, how about focusing your complaints on the true evil in this world. I don't know if you realize it, but America has freed more people in its short existance than all countries combined in the recorded history of the world. You can add millions of Afghans and Iraqis to that list. The only thing we ask in return is enough foreign land to bury our fallen soldiers on.
Stop buying into the propaganda and start learning about all the good that this country stands for.
What would you call precise? The fact that we could shoot a missle up a camel's butt in the middle of the desert seems pretty damn precise. If you haven't seen some of these missles in action, you should start looking into the matter. Fact is, we can shoot a missle into a building and have it explode on the exact floor we want it to without causing any damage to the adjacent building. Too me that is precise.
So, Let me understand how you think we should conduct war. If we find Osama Bin Laden, and he is standing next to someone we can't prove is a terrorist and we can't get close enough to assasinate him, then we need to let him go instead of dropping a precision bomb on him. I'm glad you're not in position to make any military decisions.
"First, I haven't claimed that. Second, you're presupposing that warfare has been the necessary course of action."
What the hell is this:
"It's sad that we would attack so many people (including civilians) to get to just a a handful of them."
By your own words, you are saying that we attack so many people to get just one. The fact of the matter is that these cowards hide behind the people around them. If we used your tactics, we would have never captured or beat any of our enemies.
Also, to stay consistent to your point, you better say that you never would have approved of the US getting involved in the European theater of World War II. No country in Europe had anything to do with Japan attacking us. Why then did we involve ourselves in a fight that I'm sure you would say was none of our business. I'm sure you will come up with some sort of spin. The simple fact is that history does provide a good indication of the future. If there is anything that we could have learned about WWII is that we should have involved ourselves sooner militarily. We would have saved millions of lives by doing so.
"Freed implies that the recipients wanted to be such. If not, it's just an attack on the people and a temporary shuffling of power (sometimes with the added penalty of empowering new dictators with money, power, and training (reference Hussein, Bin Laden, and Noreaga)). Until their cultures voluntarily change from within, one form of despotism will just become another. A Theocracy that attacks other countries is no better than secular despotism that attacks its own. A communist regime is no better than a fascist one."
Man, whatever it takes for you to justify the enslavement and genacide of innocent civilians just because they happen to be born in a country ruled by a murderous dictator. How do you personally know people in Iraq don't want to be free? I know waking up in the morning to your daughter being chopped up and placed in a bag on your doorstep can be a refreshing start to the morning for some. I think for most, they would prefer a cup of coffee. It is unbelievably ignorant to believe that people want to live under those conditions. For example, take an Iraqi baby from its mother at birth and raise that child in America. Under your premise, that child after being raised in America would have an internal drive to seek out the nearest violent dictatorship to move to and live. My assumption would be that that child would look at his/her former country and wonder why in the hell it's so screwed up.
"Do you remember how the United States became free? It was not by France and Spain bombing us until we signed their new constitution that they drafted for us. It was by taking up our own revolution, requesting monetary help, and overthrowing despots."
Do you think anyone would have complained in America if another country came a few years earlier than the revolt and kicked the brits ass for us with no strings attached? Also, few slight differences between a young america that was hardly developed at the time and the majority of the British military being an ocean away. You're asking a citizenship to revolt against a country that is older than the current United States and a country that had a sophisticated and well developed military on every corner of every neighborhood. Good luck!!
Talk about presumptions. Where do you get that we are writing anyone's constitution. If that were the case, there wouldn't be any writing. All we would have to do is run the greatest document ever written through a xerox copier, notarize it, seal it up, and mail it over to Iraq. Not much time involved in that.
"I know what this country stood for: individualism, life, liberty, property. What I am worried about is what this country is starting to stand for: conformity, aggression, dominance, and socialism. All of the things we supposedly fight, are the things we are becoming."
Anyway, I agree with most of this except for the aggression and dominance portion. History will tell us whether the Iraqi and Afghan people view what we did as aggression and dominance or as an act of liberation. By what I saw with the recent elections in Iraq, I think liberation will be the concensus.
Anyway
Thanks for the running discourse, it has been refreshing to read both sides of the same story.
Todd ? for you. If you ran the country today what would your actions be in relationship to iraq, iran, North Korea. What would you do with all the illegal folks in our country today?
what would your actions be towards those few indaviduals you named..please be specific.
responsible american same ?'s i asked todd i pose to you also.
as a follow on to both. would you be willing to live in any other country beside the USA, if yes were and why?
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