U.S. Division That Fought War Rolls Back Into Iraq (& are killed/wounded)

[lebkuchen]

The 3 soldiers killed today, 9 wounded, were 3rd ID. They just arrived to Iraq for a 2nd tour.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20050225/wl_nm/iraq_infantry_dc_1

Nearly two years after they stormed Baghdad, the U.S. military's 3rd Infantry Division is back in the capital, a place many of its soldiers probably thought they would never set foot in again.

By the time they left Iraq (news - web sites) in the summer of 2003, Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) was gone and U.S. authorities were in charge. The talk was of peace, rebuilding and a transition to democracy.

But nearly 20 months on, an anti-American insurgency is still raging in many parts of Iraq and there is no sign the United States will be able to withdraw its troops soon.

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Some 19,000 troops have come to Iraq with the 3rd ID and are expected to be here around a year. Around 65 percent of them have previous combat experience, most of them in the 2003 war.



**Who has it worse? The 35% who are "green" or the 65% who are doing their second tour in a war zone?

[LynnTheDem]

1. Answer: all of them.

Wait until they're back in the US, whoever makes it back, in 18 months or so, and then get called back to Iraq again.

Why are the rightwingnuts trying to make bush look bad??? Why are they forcing poor bush to conscript our used-to-be-volunteer soldiers?

Why aren't they all signing up to kill & die for bush-god's lies???

[lebkuchen]

4. "Our soldiers feel for the most part that this is the right thing to do"

"for the most part," says the Major General~. Do you sense dissent in the ranks? Post traumatic stress starting to catch up to reality?

Today's attack will further diminish morale, which seems to be the Bushies' goal. Morale used to be considered an important aspect of our armed forces' strength. Not anymore. Not under the Bushies.

Low morale will make our soldiers more vulnerable to attack/poor leadership/war crimes.

12 - 18 months later, the US, and their spouses, get them back.

powder keg

[phantom power]

2. I like how they call it "the 2003 war"

As if we're still not fighting it.

[followthemoney]

3. BOHICA SNAFU

[LynnTheDem]

5. Big time BOHICA.

SNAFU...FUBAR...and bend over, here it comes again.

[Selatius]

6. Morale throughout the division is perhaps uneven

Only the most fervent believer in the mission would be unphased by the extended tours and slow attrition. I bet the general mood is ambivalence towards the war at this point. On one hand, it's their job, but on the other, the tunnel is long and dark with no guarantee of light at the other end.

[lebkuchen]

14. True, their job is to follow orders

but if the orders are illegal, since this war is, how many unit rotations to the Middle East is it going to take, how many lives lost, recruitment quotas missed, before Congress is forced into playing the "we're breaking international law" card?

I'm hearing that those over the hump in their careers, deciding to tough it out until their 20, are certain that their remaining 10 years or so will involve constant rotations in/out of the Middle East. That's quite a grim look into the future. Imagine the strains on family life, the increase in spousal/child abuse, and the added burden placed on an already underfunded social system.

This is America's grim future. It's guaranteed.

[leftchick]

7. Perhaps the CIC** LIED when he said....

:puke: :puke: :puke:

[daleo]

8. These troops were told "the road home goes through Baghdad"

Back in early 2003. What they weren't told, was that the road home led back to Baghdad.

[Journeyman]

11. It's not quite a road, more like a circular driveway.

n/t

[daleo]

12. Or a treadmill. n/t

[Journeyman]

13. Touché! . . .

n/t

[The_Casual_Observer]

9. "probably thought they would never set foot in again"

Why would they think that? The press continues to play the part of child-like wonder about this war as if all the bad stuff is a complete surprise.

[CRK7376]

10. By the time Shrub is out

of office we will have been at war for 7 years. Longer than WWII, Korea....Gee thanks Georgie....My prayers are with the 3rd Herd, I'm an old 3ID guy and hate that they are back in the thick of it again...