Wounded servicemen describe Fallujah fight

[RamboLiberal]

Lance Cpl. Ryan Chapman points to where a bullet went under his helmet, wounding him during the fighting in Fallujah, Iraq.

http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=25526

Getting the Purple Heart Medal for his war wounds doesn’t mean Spc. Kris Clinkscales is a hero.

“Getting the Purple Heart just means the rocket found me,” quipped the 22-year-old sniper from the 1st Cavalry Division’s 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment out of Fort Hood, Texas.

Clinkscales spoke with reporters Monday while recuperating from wounds sustained a week ago in the massive offensive on the one-time insurgent stronghold of Fallujah. He took shrapnel to his right elbow and has temporarily lost some movement in the hand.

<snip>

Since Saturday, the U.S. Army hospital has received 223 battle-injury patients from Iraq, of whom 16 are in the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit and 196 already have been medivaced to stateside hospitals for further treatment, spokeswoman Marie Shaw said.

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. When Ryan Chapman runs for office

many years from now, somebody will claim that was a self inflicted wound

After all the Corporal is walking and just has a scar.

[physioex]

2. Awwww....

He got an owwiee and for that he gets a Purple Heart. /sarcasm

[Javaman]

9. Who was that scumbag woman at the RNC with the bandade??

Show her this.

[ConservativeDemocrat]

3. No. No. Only if he runs as a DEMOCRAT

Otherwise, he'll be a HERO who you can't DARE to criticize, even though he's trying to bring back slavery.

- C.D.

[Justathought]

5. Hummmmmmmmmmm this sounds so familiar a story...

Don't criticize a presidential incumbent for his awol status during his military career....unamerican is the word best used for this criticism. Don't criticize period....just elect someone who went against every military order and give them honorable status. As a military veteran....this so sucks that we have an awol president and no one seems to give a rats butt as the pure white lily republican voters have shown us. :puke:

[wicket]

8. This cartoon sums it up nicely:

[Supormom]

12. Do you think they have any purple heart band-aids left?

Perhaps the GOP could send them on to the Corporal to show him how real patriotic Americans show respect for our heroes.

[RyomaSakamoto]

4. no one saw any civilians

"The one soldier and three Marines said they saw only dead insurgents in the streets of Fallujah, no civilian casualties.

It was easy for the troops to distinguish between the two, Clinkscales said. Aside from the obvious clue of armed men traveling in packs, the insurgents typically are young men, ages 18 to 23, who made it a point to cover their faces often with dark-colored scarves and did not wear the typical long, light-colored robes that the men wear."

the japanese used to go by suntans, posture, attitude, etc to weed out their ILLEGAL COMBATANTS in NANKING.

of course they were doing it all for PEACE, PROSPERITY and SECURITY as well, GEACPS.

[Justathought]

6. Are the insurgents wearing uniforms?

How can they tell if they were only insurgents? Iask this because in Viet Nam you could not tell civilians from communist fighters. Are they really saying that insurgents are not smart enough to also disguise them as civilians...this has been done numerous times as insurgents dressed as civilians came up to U.S. soldiers and bombed the pieces out of them.

[Javaman]

10. Insurgents can look like civilians but...

Civilians can never look like insurgents...>sarcasm<

[Ima]

14. Simple

If they are dead they were insurgents.

[wtmusic]

15. amen

I knew there was an easy way to tell

[RyomaSakamoto]

11. it's a tough job occupying a foreign country

when your not wanted... all the imperial powers know these brutal realities.

doesn't change the fact that we are committing WAR CRIMES in fallujah between the indiscriminate targeting of civilians, attacks on their hospitals and aid stations for christ's sake and shutting off food and water to the whole city, etc.

what will we tell our children :cry:

[The Wielding Truth]

16. WE will say That we voted against it then did our best to stop it.

Let's start emailing all the government officials from State rep to supreme court to The pRESIDENT himself. Every voice raised in protest will make a difference.

[mog]

7. The victor will never be asked if he told the truth

the japanese used to go by suntans, posture, attitude, etc to weed out there ILLEGAL COMBATANTS in NANKING. of course they were doing it all for PEACE, PROSPERITY and SECURITY as well, GEACPS.


That is interesting, and I bet if the Japanese had won, their action would have been seen as bringing "civilization" to Asia just like how Europeans brought "civilization" to North America.

:puke:

[RyomaSakamoto]

13. fortunately we have some awesome historians who still speak truth to power

Parenti, Chomsky, Zinn, etc... who have passed the word to the next generation so we have a chance to bend toward justice.

as vietnam war and the nazis are still very emotional and we aren't quite there yet - i like to say it's 'spring-time for hitler - that we may make more use of the similarities to our current behavior to theirs in asia.

their Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere policy for Asia is very similar to our current policy of bringing PEACE, PROSPERITY and SECURITY to asia - the racism "asia for asians" though there is certainly a ton of anti muslim racism growing in our country and military.

unfortunately, if history can serve as a guide, our leaders, full of arrogance, pride and hubris most likely won't listen to any criticism nor wisdom in their quest for bending the world toward their will.

[olddad56]

17. It is a shame that Bush was never awarded a purple heart...

he must have at least fallen off a barstool while he was AWOL.

[buddysmellgood]

18. We sent this guy to Iraq.

Let me just say, that this guy is a hero. He is in Iraq because we the people did not stop Dubya. The military goes where the president sends them. These people are deadly weapons. They kill. That's what they do. One would hope they would follow "the rules" but the bottom line is, we did not do enough to stop this. Some of you, I'm sure, did all you could to stop this war. I know that I did not. I was disgusted, I was against it, but I trusted the president and congress. I thought, 'They must know something they cannot say. They must have knowledge that will harm troops if it is revealed before the attack. I just couldn't believe they would make such a lame case. I thought we learned a lesson from VietNam and would never repeat it. Well obviously it was all bullshit. But if you're like me, don't transfer your guilt onto these brave men and women. Instead, focus your anger on Dubya and anyone who would support him. When I encounter a gloating republican, my first question is "When are you going to Iraq?, or how long before little Jimmy can go to Iraq? And if they actually know someone in Iraq, I apologize that I didn't do more to keep that hero home where they could protect America.

[rainbow4321]

19. Dogs eating corpses...

OMG..listening to Mike Malloy on the Net and he just reported people seeing dogs eating the corpses that are laying around on Fallujah streets. WTF have done to that city and it's people???
;(

[Baja Margie]

20. Leveled it.

You know the plan, they plan to rush in millions of dollars to rebuild it when it is secure, that's how they think they are going to win the hearts and minds of these people.