"They're just going to keep killing us until we leave"

[Padraig18]

Area GI: "They're just going to keep killing us until we leave"

Coles County Leader
December 19, 2003


He got off the plane Monday afternoon - Mosul to Kuwait to Germany to Atlanta to Dallas to Indianapolis, where he was met by his family - two days traveling for 15 days at home. He was still wearing a faded desert-tan combat uniform and a battered pair of boots, still covered with the dust of the Iraqi desert. He asked us not to use his name, a request we have decided to honor.

He slept for most of the next two days, getting up only long enough to eat and wander dazed around the house. "They told us we wouldn't know where we were for a while," he said. "I didn't think it would affect me, but it is."

There is a new wariness. He moves slowly and deliberately, uncertain of once familiar things: a refrigerator, a newspaper, his baby sister. The newspaper says three of his fellow Screaming Eagles were killed in Mosul the day before, two shot dead while guarding a gas station, the third when his Humvee rolled past a roadside bomb. He will be back in Mosul by Christmas. No wonder he is wary.

Even the air he breathes is unfamiliar. "It's just nasty and dirty there," he said. "There's a bunch of dead animals - dead dogs, dead cows, dead donkeys - on the roadsides. There's sewage in the cities and the towns. There's oil fires, fires nonstop. There's just trash everywhere. Everywhere. It's like a giant landfill. There's chickens and donkeys in the towns, walking around, dumping wherever they want. Stagnant water all over. All of it. It's just a bad smell that you can never escape."

We load a CD that the battalion sent home, "The Road to Mosul," the story of his brigade's role in Operation Iraqi Freedom. They rolled out of Kuwait last March, psy-ops loudspeakers booming rock music across the desert: Drowning Pool's "Let the Bodies Hit the Floor" and Guns 'n Roses' "Welcome to the Jungle." They rolled north, securing the city of Najaf, ancient Babylon, and shelling the headquarters of Saddam Hussein's Fedayeen.

"The Fedayeen would go into people's houses, tell the guys they'd kill their families if they didn't attack us," he said. "They'd come at us in waves, right at the machine guns, and we'd wax them. The thing was, we didn't get shot at much then. A little bit on the convoys, a little bit when we rolled through Baghdad."
They didn't know it then, but those were the good old days. There's no rock music score to the occupation of Mosul, nobody making gung-ho videos.

Instead, there are improvised explosive devices along the roads and steel cable strung across roads in an attempt to decapitate passing soldiers. Telephone poles are dropped to create ambush sites. The sudden pop-pop-pop of AK-47 fire.

"The only good thing is, when we're attacked, we usually kill the guys who do it," he said. "They may eventually run out of guys to attack us, but I doubt it. It seems like for every one you kill, three or four take his place"

There are no jubilant Iraqis welcoming their liberators. "The only people who are happy to see you are the people who are getting stuff from us," he said. "The mayor is happy, but we're propping him up. The sheiks are happy, because they're getting schools. You hand people money, they're happy, but you don't know what'll happen when you turn your back."

"The average Iraqi, though, sees things getting worse. They're sick of us and we're sick of them, because we don't know who the good guys are, and neither do they. It's killing morale."

The rules of engagement have changed. "Officially," he said, "it's 'Don't fire unless you're fired upon. We're here to win hearts and minds. We're all a bunch of buddies. But down in the trenches where my buddies and I are, the word is, 'If you're scared, kill it. If you feel threatened, kill it. If you just don't know, kill it.' I'm so disgusted I've considered going AWOL or deserting, and I'd say I'm in the majority of soldiers over there in my feelings.' "

"Some of our guys are being overly aggressive. What it is now is, 'It's too late in the ballgame. I'm going home. If I kill him by mistake, it's too bad, but I'm going home if I live.' We throw candy at the kids, but they'll turn around and throw rocks at us. Little kids, teenagers, they flip us the finger or run a finger across their throats or pretend they've got guns. That breaks my heart, because I love kids, and they've been the victims of this war more than anyone else. Does anyone in the White House even care what's going on any more?", he asked.

"I don't know who's going to fix it. The Iraqi police are a joke. Most of them are pretty good guys, but they don't trust each other, and they damn sure don't trust us. They need Arabs soldiers to do what we're doing, but the Iraqis wouldn't trust them, either. They're just going to keep killing us until we leave."

I was stunned to read this in one of our local weekly newspapers, because the paper has generally been very supportive of the Iraq War; on reflection, however, I am less surprised. Although conservative, the paper is not right-wing. Yet another sign of growing discontent in 'America's Heartland', IMO.

Note to Moderators: Please indulge the full re-print; the paper is not available in an online edition. Thanks!

[Crunchy Frog]

1. Fascinating article Padraig

Thank you for posting it. It's incredibly rare to get a glimpse into what is really going on over there. I think the Saddam capture is going to end up being a blip in seriously deteriorating situation. I hope I'm wrong.

[Padraig18]

2. The LTTE's here have been interesting:

I've read exactly one 'rah-rah, ain't it great?' letter; the majority have been of the 'yeah, so what?' variety. Most interesting, considering that I live in a very Republican area.

[Crunchy Frog]

8. You're very lucky to have a paper

where you can find some real information. I've about given up on my local papers. I pretty much just read articles linked from DU.

[calimary]

45. I hate to be Machiavellian, but what we should hope for is that

Saddam's capture ends up being the blip in a seriously deteriorating situation that you describe.

YES, I KNOW. TERRIBLE, sucky statement to make. Even more sucky that I've even come to feel this way. And for that, I apologize!

BUT: the Saddam business has given bush a few points kick-back-up in the polls, unfortunately. Our hope lies in having whatever was advantageous, or SEEMED advantageous to the bushies gets drowned in a sea of bad news. The "good" part about that is - that adds to the likelihood he'll be defeated next November. THAT is what we have to hope for.

Again, I am sorry for seeming so callous and calculating about this. But the overriding priority is getting that schmuck OUT OF THE WHITE HOUSE, so we have a better shot at getting America, AND ESPECIALLY our beloved ones stuck over there, permanently out of Iraq, and this modern-day crusade and the PNAC nightmare.

[Padraig18]

47. That blip was temporary.

When he starts losing the Republican heartland, his chickens are starting to come home to roost...

[calimary]

52. Shoot, I hope so! Unfortunately, I'm not sure I see much of that yet.

At least not enough to count.

This is just sucky. I feel for this young man so much. He's permanently changed and damaged. Even if, as I pray, he eventually concludes his tour of duty and comes home with all his limbs and his faculties intact.

JEEZ!

[ima_sinnic]

3. calling Will Pitt . . . this needs to be published online

. . . is there an author and way to contact? I'd like to see this spread over the Internet like hellfire. Very poignant and well-written.

[Padraig18]

11. Online: I'm all over it.

I've contacted the editor of one of our daily papers here, and he's going to ask the author for permission to put it on the AP wire.

[ima_sinnic]

20. excellent! I will be publishing on my web site and want to

credit the author.

[Padraig18]

21. AWESOME!

I'll get the link up, as soon as I hear back from Bill, my editor friend.

[prisonerseven]

63. You'll need an author and contact to verify it

Has the author identified himself and his unit?

[izzie]

4. SA id dirty like that. Dead animals along all the roads and

trash every place. They have people sweeping streets but it is right in the city. The rest of country is dirty and yet some splaces very pretty. I think this man is right and we will be killed until we leave. After all can you blame them? For years we backed Saddam. How can they ever trust us.

[BlueCollar]

5. too familiar...

God knows we need to get out of this mess...

We went through this in Asia...now the Middle East...

[Rowdyboy]

6. A stunning piece....

Its heartwrenching to read. Just to think that the guy only has a short break and will be back before Christmas sends a chill down my spine. What a monsterous abuse of power by an administration driven by evil.

[NJCher]

7. well, now we're nice and comfy here in America, aren't we?

Right now I am listening to an NPR interview with Bill Frist. The interview describes his office with a fire going in the marble fireplace. While listening, I was reading, "There's a bunch of dead animals - dead dogs, dead cows, dead donkeys - on the roadsides."

The interview goes on. It describes how Frist takes the interviewers into his comfortable office with the oil paintings hanging on the walls. I read, ""They'd come at us in waves, right at the machine guns, and we'd wax them."

Enjoy your comfortable office, Mr. Frist, while your policies put our people and the Iraqis in hell. Enjoy it, because someday there will be a special place in hell for you.



Cher

[Killarney]

9. Wow, just wow.

What an honest, stunning piece. Thank you so much for posting that.

I emailed it to my father, who served in Vietnam, and he said his heart is breaking for "those boys" because it sounds so much like his experience in Vietnam (not knowing who to trust, etc.).

[Jacobin]

10. The title to this thread just about sums it up

Wonder if we'll reach the 55,000 that were killed in Vietnam before we get our asses run out?

The Iraqization of this war does not appear to be going as well as the Vietnamization of the Vietnam war.

[ErasureAcer]

12. let's get the hell out

NOW!

www.kucinich.us

[jonoboy]

13. sadly the title says it all

[Padraig18]

14. Sad, isn't it?

[GreenPartyVoter]

15. Good piece

We'll be reading mroe and more like it as time rolls on.

[Padraig18]

17. I think the lid is off Pandora's box.

When articles like this begin appearing in newspapers in smalltowns in the 'Republican heart' of Illinois, I think it's getting ready to explode.

[GreenPartyVoter]

25. Especially

if we start seeing a slew of them in "Stars and Stripes". That'll be the death knell for the war, for sure.

[stewert]

16. Now we Know What is Really Going on in Iraq !

This is the real story on Iraq, right from the horses mouth. Not the coprorate BS you get from
CNN, MSNBC, and FOX.

This is the real deal from a soldier who is there, this is reality, this is the stuff our lame ass media
should be reporting.

Frankly it's sad to see how bad and lame our media is, they have sold out to the people of America.
When I read this I felt sick, I felt that way because it hit me hard how bad our media actually is
today.

This brave soldier has to write an anonymous op-ed to a newspaper so he don't get in trouble in
the land of the free and the home of the brave.

How fricking sad is that ?

And how free are we when he can not tell the truth about Iraq without getting in trouble ?

Land of the free ?

Not anymore, not in Bush's America.

[Padraig18]

18. What's even more sad:

The truth comes from a small-town weekly with a readership of about 10K, rather than ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN and FOX with millions of viewers... *sigh*

[Mairead]

19. Uri Avnery's analysis (from his 22. March essay)

On the fourth day of the 1982 Israeli attack on Lebanon, I crossed the border at a lonely spot near Metulla and looked for the front, which had already reached the outskirts of Sidon. I was driving my private car, accompanied by a woman photographer. We passed a dozen Shiite villages and were received everywhere with great joy. We extracted ourselves only with difficulty from hundreds of villagers, each one insisting that we have coffee at their home. On the previous days, they had showered the soldiers with rice.

A few months later I joined an army convoy going in the opposite direction, from Sidon to Metulla. The soldiers were now wearing bulletproof vests and helmets, many were on the verge of panic.

What had happened? The Shiites had received the Israeli soldiers as liberators. When they realized that they had come to stay as occupiers, they started to kill them.

...

Sharon is the real father of the Shiite force in Lebanon. Bush may well become the father of Shiite power in Iraq. The Shiites, 60% of the Iraqi population, have until now been down-trodden and powerless. When they realize that the Americans intend to stay, they will start a deadly guerilla campaign. {emphasis added} Bush does not intend to leave Iraq, as Sharon did not intend to leave Lebanon.

http://www.gush-shalom.org/archives/article237.html

[Padraig18]

22. Scary!

[Padraig18]

23. Kick

[enough]

24. kick (nt)

.

[GreenPartyVoter]

26. I wish we heard more from soliders who have come home

and find our news to be skewed all to heck where Iraq is concerned.

[Padraig18]

27. I wish we had a national media with balls enough to print these stories.

[GreenPartyVoter]

31. yeah, that too

[1songbird]

28. OMG! Your local paper actually printed this. Major kudos to them.

This needs to be viewed nationally. The thing that is disturbing is that this soldier was in Mosul. Some crazies have suggested that we isolate those in the Sunni triangle and cut of supplies to them until the violence subsides. This shows that the problem is widespread indeed. Thanks for posting this.

[Padraig18]

33. Yes, it was in a local weekly paper.

Some of us still live where we have a free press.

[catmandu57]

29. Put yourself in this man's place

He is given a brief vacation from hell, death and rot everywhere, people who would just as soon kill you and leave your carcass to rot with the dogs and donkeys, rotting amidst the piles of stagnation.

You've been given two weeks, two very short weeks, to return to Mom and Dad and home. To a place where nobody is going to be shooting at you, things are clean, there is electricity on demand.

Now, two weeks are up, not even that, you blow four days just getting out and back, 11 days of 15. You must buck up and do what is probably the hardest thing you've ever done. Return to a world of death, return to an uncertain future, where the only thing certain is that the people who live there would kill or maim you if they could.\

Why we don't have mass desertion from this maddness, I don't know, I'd gladly offer any aid I could to someone wanting to escape this hell.

[IrateCitizen]

30. This is an unbelievable account!

And it's also proof that there is still valuable information available in print journalism -- especially when you get past the front page stories and Op-Eds.

[Padraig18]

34. There is valuable information available in newspapers.

Especially one's that are not owned by some corporate media-chain.

[Brewman_Jax]

32. I need to send this to...

some RW's who's response to the truth is: "Shut up!/Fuck you! George Bush kicks ass!"

I grow tired of the flag-waving zombies whose brains have been shut off for the past few years. Let them see the pain and misery they've elected and backed.

Thank you for the reprint.

[maggrwaggr]

35. Wow! Everybody in America should read this

[Padraig18]

36. Maybe they will.

It's supposed to be on the AP wire later today.

[eileen_d]

37. Thank you, Padraig18

I have mixed feelings when I read these kind of pieces just because the husband of a very close friend of mine will be going to Iraq in January (National Guard, of course ) But we must all know the truth. War is not as sanitary as it appears on CNN. And the Bush administration and their sympathizers continue to lie about everything related to this war.

Also, kudos in advance if this gets out on the AP Wire!

[Padraig18]

38. Thank you! :)

Keep your fingers crossed with the AP. My friend Bill (the editor of another local paper) sent it out, but no word yet on whether they've picked it up.

[truthspeaker]

39. please post here when (if) it hits AP

I would very much like to link to it.

[denverbill]

40. Wow. Powerful article. Too bad the freepers won't see it.

I've seen a few of them bashing the National Guard/Reserve types, saying moral 'might' be low in those units because they are soft, only sign up for 6 weeks a year, etc. But this guy is regular army, 101st Airborne.

[truthspeaker]

41. holy shit they really say that?

I'd like to see your average freeper in a trench wearing 80 pounds if gear in 120 degree heat while people shoot at him. They'd probably drown in their own piss.

[Padraig18]

42. True.

Most freepers are cowards---but we knew that already, didn't we?

[CWebster]

43. Here you have it

The glaring disconnect between supporting the troops blurred into and extended into supporting the futile exercize of war.

Oh, we need to get a general or some military figure to strut for our side and show them all what big heros we are!See how we can compete with everything the Right throws out. We'll show them who the patrotic ones are. Don't it just make you swell with pride, John Kerry, that you have experienced the likes of this, and came home to testify against it, and all it's brutality, in front of congress. And today you wear it as a badge of honor and parade it in front of others as if it made you a better man.

For this is war, don't it just make you swell with pride?

[Rowdyboy]

44. Kick

[dawgman]

46. kick

[WillyT]

48. Wow, Thanks P !!! --- I Think I'll Send It To Malloy !!!

Man...

[Padraig18]

50. It should be AP by now. :)

[Karenina]

49. "They're just going to keep killing us until we leave"

Welcome to the real world.

[HEyHEY]

51. the title exemplifies the people there perfectly

They know from history that if you keep killing americans, they will leave.....they know it, Bush doesn't care...

[Padraig18]

54. Bush* has NEVER cared.

[mlawson]

53. Kick!!!!!

[WillyT]

55. Kick !!!

[Habibi]

56. Another kick

Got my fingers crossed for an online version . . .

[gttim]

58. Kick

Anything on AP yet?

[Mike W.]

57. "They're just going to keep killing us until we leave"

Several of these kind of reports from our troops have trickled by in the eddy currents of the media, but even there they are quite rare. And the major media outlets would never disserve their masters in that way, so I wouldn't count on this receiving much meaningful exposure. The soldiers themselves will self-sensor out of fear of reprisal--the kind of reprisal that will probably befall the soldier that gave his story in the article. Hell, there's enough information given about this person that the stupidest corporal in Army Intel could easily attach a name to it. They'd love to give this guy 'extra military instruction' for his lack of discretion.

[Habibi]

69. Hi, Mike

Welcome to DU!



Micky

[Mike W.]

71. Howdy Mik !

[prisonerseven]

59. Is there a name and rank to confirm this is a legit military soldier?

I'm sorry if I missed it in your posting. Stories like this need confirmed.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

60. No the paper honored the guy's request not to print it

[prisonerseven]

61. That's not credible

Anybody could draft that or any other missive. What possible assurance do we have other than faith that it really is from a US soldier? What rank does he or she hold? What unit are they from?

[K8-EEE]

62. Exactly As I Picture It :o(

Those poor guys. When they come home, it's up to us to make sure they get what they need -- they will need lots of help. Natch GWB & crew talk a good game but don't come up with the $$ for the vets!

Thank you for this, it was interesting.

[prisonerseven]

64. Those poor guys?

So far we have a story with no author or contact. We should wait for confirmation to place some credibility on the story.

[Blue_Tires]

65. if true

than this is absolutely chilling...IMO, even if this piece was completely made up, I wouldn't think the actual truth is that far from this narrative...

The sad part is no one will notice or pay attention until the people wake up and see the body counts (both US and Iraqi)...I came pretty close to enlisting a couple years ago; glad i kept myself out...when i think about the people who are constantly put in harm's way by bush and are dying every day, well there isn't much else to be said.

[ConcernedCanuk]

66. ______ LINK to story on-line __________

. .

[ima_sinnic]

67. fabulous!

kick this piece all over the Internet--let as many as possible get to see the works of Bush.

[SaintLouisBlues]

70. Wow, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch printed this today!

Too bad it's the Saturday instead of the Sunday paper, about 100K
circulation vs. 500K. But via cyberspace who knows how many eyeballs
this could get.

[chiburb]

68. morning kick......n/t

.

[mlawson]

72. Kick once more. n/t

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

73. one more kick

[number6]

74. kick

Bring em home !