We Are at War

[xchrom]

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/09/11


American soldiers during an operation in Zabul Province in 2006. (Photo: Tyler Hicks/NYT)

On a single day in Iraq last week there were 29 bombing attacks in 19 cities, killing 111 civilians and wounding another 235. On September 9th, reports indicate 88 people were killed and another 270 injured in 30 attacks all across the country. Iraq continues in a seemingly endless death spiral into chaos. In his acceptance speech for the Democratic nomination for President, Obama claimed he ended the war in Iraq. Well… not quite.

The city of Fallujah remains under siege. Not from U.S. troops, but from a deluge of birth defects that have plagued families since the use of depleted uranium and white phosphorus by U.S. forces in 2004. No government studies have provided a direct link to the use of these weapons because no government studies have been undertaken, and none are contemplated.

Dr. Samira Alani, a pediatric specialist at Fallujah General Hospital, told Al Jazeera,

"We have all kinds of defects now, ranging from congenital heart disease to severe physical abnormalities, both in numbers you cannot imagine. There are not even medical terms to describe some of these conditions because we've never seen them until now."

[RKP5637]

1. And sadly out of sight, out of mind, for most of America. n/t

[Scuba]

2. Chew 'em up and spit 'em out.

[Victor_c3]

3. I was almost in Fallujah (i.e. Operation Phantom Fury)

I know it is kind of off topic, but I'm kind of drawn to anything to do with the war like a moth.

It was billed as a Marine operation, but responsibility for the spear head and the eastern portion of the city was given to 3rd Brigade, 1st Infantry Division (3 BDE / 1 ID). The unit within the brigade that was actually assigned to be the point of the assault was my company. Fortunately for me, my platoon (there are 3 platoons in a company) was attached to another unit at the time and I wasn't anywhere near Fallujah during Operation Phantom Fury. Instead, I was hanging out in another crap hole on the other side of Baghdad guarding a power transmission station that provided 1/3 of the electricity to the city.

My boss CPT Sean Sims and my next door neighbor and good friend 1LT Edward Iwan were killed there not to mention several other Soldiers from my unit. The stories that everyone was telling us about the combat in Fallujah was chilling. Like what I saw in some of the firefights that I was a part of in Baqubah, the combatants knew they were going to die and fought to the death. Many of them were taking meth and other drugs. Kind of like in the movies, these guys would get shot and still keep coming at you. Another of my good friends was a Platoon Leader for one of the platoons that was invovled and he told me stories about how they were having problems with suicide bombers. People would surrender and then blow themselves up on us. To deter that, people who wanted to surrender had to completely strip at a distance. If they didn't strip, they were shot.

Because of the intensity of the fighting and the way that buildings were occupied, unoccupied, and then needed to be taken again, there was no recovery of the non-American dead until after the operation. Operation Phantom Fury went on for several days and I heard that the stench of dead bodies was out of control. My buddy told me that it was unnerving to drive a tracked vehicle down the street and to run over one of these dead bodies and grind it up in the track pads (it wasn't done intentionally). Also they said that they would be eating in proximity of some of the dead and flies, presumably that were just munching on the dead a few meters away, would come land in their food like a housefly does.

I'm not at all envious that I wasn't there, although I remember some of my subordinates were.

I've read several articles about the birth defects and I've even seen a documentary about it. I'm well aware of the long-term effects. Unfortunately, and I cite this statistic all the time on this forum, the ratio of civilians killed in war to Soldiers killed in war in the 20th century is 10:1 (I can post a reference if anyone is interested, but do a search on wikipedia for civilian casualty ratio). There is a reason the military doesn't keep track of civilian dead from the wars in the middle east. The American people would be shocked to know the full extent of how many civilian men, women, and children were killed. My platoon was credited (I'm not trying to make it sound positive) will killing 46 people and I lost track of how many we wounded during the year I was in Iraq. I don't even want to think about how many of those were civilians in the wrong place at the wrong time.

[xchrom]

4. welcome back home. nt

[Victor_c3]

5. One more thing

Xchrom, thanks.

------------

I know that nobody is insinuating anything here, but as a guy who participated in the war first hand in can assure you that this isn't at all what I wanted to do when I went to Iraq. The majority of the Soldiers weren't there to kill as many people as they could and to posion the cities. I know that this is the same excuse that the Nazi's used when they faced their war crimes, but I was just following orders - trust me it is hard for me to accept that and I'm deeply sorry for what happened in Iraq.

[glacierbay]

6. From one old combat vet to another

(2 tours Vietnam), Welcome Home!

[Victor_c3]

7. and another thing

I look at the "awards" I received for my combat action not as good things. In fact, when I received them, I was very upset at them. To me, they cheapen my experiences and the loss of life associated therein. It's kind of like "oooh you killed someone! lets give you a pretty shiny sticker!"

Using the avatar that I do use (the Bronze Star Medal) to me, demonstrates a quick visual validity to my stories of the war. Not that I believe that the opinions of a veteran are more important than those of a non veteran, but when I'm talking about how terrible war is, I think it has a little bit more of a bite as I've actually been through it.

By the way, I am an actual recipient of a Bronze Star (not that I'm trying to brag, I just don't want to come accross as something that I'm not).