Thanks for posting this. I spent 2005 or OIF3 or two Thomas Friedman (suck on this) units worth of time in Abu Ghraib prison where we brought liberty and freedom to thousands of Iraqis detained and trapped inside of fences within high walls. Didn't believe in the war before I went, while I was there, and certainly not after I returned. But I was a soldier, and I couldn't live with the thought of another going in my place - it's complicated. I was a stop-lossed, cross-leveled engineer sent in with the MP reserves out of NY. We had more lead, RPG's and mortars and rockets rained on Abu Ghraib than any spot in Iraq. It was truly a hell-hole beyond description. Did the soldiers torture and humiliate prisoners before we arrived? You betchya as Palin might say. But those who ran the show - contract employees and officers didn't get blamed - naturally. The deaths and rapes and more were never released to the public. Wonder why?

We were told we were a liberating force, and not an occupying force. Camp Remembrance where most of the Iraqis were detained was to remind us all of those brave firemen and police officers who died on 9-11. Yet while we were there, the boy president let it slip that Iraq had nothing to do with the attacks in NY. Not to be deterred, we charlie-miked for the rest of the year. Had a front row view of the phony elections, drove down the roads and saw the murderous carnage unleashed by our war machine, and listened intently to groups of Sunni prisoners tell me around May of 05 that the US should leave as we were killing too many people and the Shiites were taking over. That was the point where the civil war was a done deal, thanks to our war pigs in charge.

I spoke out openly against the invasion to the chagrin of many in our unit at first, but by the end of the tour, a great many had changed their minds. Senators Schumer and Clinton were sent several letters begging them to help remove the Iraqis from Abu Ghraib as it was in violation of the Geneva conventions regarding protecting those under an army's charge and keeping them from harm and away from the field of battle. Crickets on that one folks, big crickets.

ISIS was formed in our prisons, er detention centers like Abu Ghraib and Bucca. I refuse to refer to them as ISIS as they're really Al Qaeda 3.0. Why weren't any of our generals fired? Why were our politicians and media so easily fooled by the bullshit surge? I came back to a brain dead country that had no idea what was going on, much of it in our name.

Apparently Abu was selected by that well known incarceration and war expert Wolfowitz as he found it to be centrally located. The list of fuck-ups, disasters, and wanton disregard for the Iraqi people is endless. It really was a case of: Join the Army, see the world, meet interesting people and kill them. Hardy fuckin' har har.

So when a dip-shit repuke tries to thank me, I am no longer polite. I tell them: "No, let me thank you for voting for the bastards who led us into a terrible war, where millions of Iraqis lie dead and homeless and suffering, where our treasure was hemorrhaged to feed KBR and other private war profiteers and where my buddies and I came back broken both physically and psychically. And now we're expected to man-up and be quiet about all that shit?"

And if a democrat dares to thank me, I simply reply: "You have got to be fucking kidding me right? Because if you don't know what a terrible insult that is, well lend me your ear, and I'll tell you a little bit about what war is really like, and I am positive you won't enjoy it one goddamned bit!"

And I always ask, "what the hell did the people of Iraq ever do to the people of the USA?"

Time to exhale

The Shadow Mayor