Soldier says Iraq "A matter of survival"...

[indigobusiness]

A matter of survival, GEORGE SPRAGUE, Balad, Iraq - Letter

October 28. 2004 8:07AM


When I was home in New Hampshire on leave last month, a lot of people approached me to tell what a good job we're doing here in Iraq.

I appreciate the support, but I don't need the media or those people to tell me what I see every day. We are not getting the job done.

People ask me, "How's it going over there?" Cities have been overrun and are in a state of lawlessness. My job brings me into the streets. I see these things as they happen. They aren't just headlines for me. All we are doing here is treading water, and at this rate we can't keep afloat much longer. I'm just a simple man, but I can see that everything this administration has done with Iraq has been dead wrong.

We appreciate your support, but we can't see those yellow ribbons from here. I ask that you let your vote show your support. I don't know what you go to bed thinking, but I go to bed wondering not how many more years of this administration I can handle but how many more days I might survive.


http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20041028/REPOSITORY/410280355&SearchID=73188412774667

[TexasChick]

1. Oh, man! I hate this administration! Why aren't the Chimp twins out there

fighting for their lives, huh? If the Chimp thinks it's going so well, why aren't they out there?

[LibertyLover]

23. Interesting

Yesterday my husband and I went to our local shopping mall. In the parking lot was a car with a handmade sign in the back window. It read: Vet just back from Iraq. Vote for Kerry.

[sevensixtwo]

2. Strange

I know about 20 men currently serving in Iraq. Every signle one of them are saying the complete opposite. They say morale is as high as can be and the Iraqi people support our efforts.

I have since stopped paying attention to what they show on TV. I just get it straight from the source.

[Bandit]

3. Why aren't you over there with them?

:shrug:

[sevensixtwo]

4. Good question.

I wanted to join the Army about 4 years ago. Turns out I was rejected due to medical reasons.

I also feel that I am best used here at home.

So, why arent you over there with our soldiers?

[Bandit]

7. I am a Combat veteran

I spent two tours of duty in Vietnam. I know what war is about. I don't have to pretend. Did you have a cyst on your ass like Rush Limbaugh?

[TexasChick]

11. Uh, duh, tard, it's not a war of necessity, it's a war of choice! You

think most people want to die for this chimp-in-chief's personal PNAC/neocon war for oil! I don't think so! I'll only fight when it is necessary and probably most Americans who can think probably feel the same way. George Smirking Chimp Bush can kiss our asses! Why aren't the Chimp twin daughters there, huh? If the Chimp thinks it's going so well, why aren't they there putting their asses on the line?

[sevensixtwo]

5. Good question.

sorry, double post

[IrateCitizen]

6. Buh-bye, Fr***er...

Hope you've enjoyed your stay here. Outed yourself kinda quickly though, didn't ya?

[sevensixtwo]

9. How

So, by offering a different point of view from someone else I have "outed" myself? I sure hope your moderators dont think like you! Grow up man, people were made and think differently for a reason. Just because I dont agree on this issue, does it mean that I will never agree with you???

[JHB]

16. A reminder of the rules, I.C.

PERSONAL ATTACKS, CIVILITY, AND RESPECT
...
Do not publicly accuse another member of this message board of being a disruptor, troll, conservative, Republican, or FReeper. Do not try to come up with cute ways of skirting around the spirit of this rule. If you think someone is a disruptor, click the "Alert" link below their post so the moderators can deal with it. Unfortunately, it has become all too common for members of this message board to label anyone with a slightly different point of view as a disruptor. We disapprove of this behavior because its intent is to stifle discussion, enforce a particular "party line," and pre-emptively label a particular point of view as inappropriate or unwelcome. This makes thoughtful and open debate virtually impossible.
...
From
http://www.democraticunderground.com/forums/rules.html#civility

[IrateCitizen]

18. Yeah? The guy was a Freeper.

I'm well aware of the rules. I also don't use that term lightly, and I never use it until I've observed several posts to pick up a "pattern".

My posts can be pulled, it doesn't matter really. The newbie in question is gone, consigned to the dustbin/trashheap of DU.

[TexasChick]

8. Are you kidding? I don't think morale is high. That's baloney! These

people feel lied to and are having to get their families to buy armor for them, etc. Insurgent fighting is higher than ever. You think morale is high?!!!! Maybe you should visit this site and get a dose of reality on what most of our troops are thinking: www.optruth.org

Or you should read the letters sent to Michael Moore from our troops: http://www.michaelmoore.com/books-films/willtheyevertrustusagain/


We lost 8 marines the other day, just in one day! Don't tell me that morale is high there! I don't think so! Yes, TV isn't giving us the complete story of what's going on there, but I find it hard to believe that morale is high!

[Name removed]

10. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[MacDo]

14. Wait a minute

IrateCitizen, I've been there too, and am leaving again in two weeks.
I can't vouch for the other newbie, but my experience has been the same. Morale is high.
My Morale is high going in, mainly because we can not leave this unfinished. As wrong as it was to start, now that it has, we should see it through.
You were an Officer once, and I know you know the effects of morale when they learn support at home is falling. Kerry is not going to pull us out, because he realizes we must finish it too.

[IrateCitizen]

17. That's a canard, MacDo

I know you know the effects of morale when they learn support at home is falling.

So, what is the solution -- to support an ongoing campaign that is immoral and illegal under international law? Sorry, can't do that. Nor could I do it even when I was an officer. People around me knew where I stood, and they still respected me for it (or in spite of it), as I respected them regardless of their beliefs.

The moment that someone starts telling me that we need to "support the mission or the troops will suffer", they've immediately lost any possiblity of persuading me. If the mission is so tenuous that the troops cannot accomplish it without the focused mind-meld of millions of people halfway around the globe, perhaps the mission was an ill-advised one to begin with.

Kerry is not going to pull us out, because he realizes we must finish it too.

Kerry is simply parrotting the establishment line. Politicians said the same thing during Vietnam. I only hope that Kerry learns that we cannot "win" this (unless we destroy the entire country, which I would hardly call a "win") before another 58,000+ servicemen are killed, thousands more wounded, and millions of Iraqis dead. I suggest you read The Sorrows of Empire by Chalmers Johnson for a pretty good picture of what we're facing should we continue along the current path (regardless of who's in the WH).

Your morale may be high going in, or you could be operating on the "FEBA" principle. I can't tell which from here. However, from a lot of the vets I've talked to through Operation Truth and Iraq Vets Against the War, I've heard plenty of people who were over there and aren't exactly supportive of what we're doing. I told you before that we probably have some pretty big differences of opinion -- I just didn't want it to get in the way of wishing you and your troops a safe return.

[MacDo]

19. I respect your opinion

but think you're wrong.
Kerry will see this through. My vote for him was a hope that yet another war was not started for the wrong reasons. I have no doubt he will see this one through first. We can not leave Iraq now, or it will become another pre 911 Afghanistan.

[IrateCitizen]

20. Thanks for the respect, right back at ya...

I too respect your opinion, but I think you're wrong.

As Albert Einstein said, "The problems of the world will not be solved by the same thinking that created them in the first place." IMHO, based on everything I've read about history and different cultures and the like, that's exactly what I see us doing in the region.

If we were to leave Iraq, I doubt it would become like pre-9/11 Afghanistan. It would probably end up much more like Iran, or perhaps it would "Balkanize" into three distinct regions -- Kurds in the North, Sunnis in the center, and Shias in the South.

[MacDo]

21. Hope you're right.

But for now, on to sleep, back on duty in 8 hours. Thanks again for the interesting discussion. Take care

[jpak]

12. 1120+ dead, 10,000+ wounded and 80+ attacks a day against US forces

100,000 Iraqi dead.

Yup - we're winning the war those hearts and minds!!!

Troops underfed, underwatered, underarmored and undersupplied with ammo.

Those no-bid contracts to Halliburton sure were morale boosters!!!!

Pass the plastic turkey please...

[indigobusiness]

22. Did you see Tony Blankley trying to dispute the 100,000 Iraq dead stat?

They are loath to recognize the facts.

I suspect all the stats are very conservative.

[jpak]

13. Ack! the dreaded double post!

:)

[nadinbrzezinski]

15. RLOL

My hubby came back from theater, and he tells a very different story

We have gotten letters from troops we adopted and morale is so low they need the chunnel diggers to find it.

Oh and kid before you say it, I have seen combat too... I don't play pretend...

Oh and medical excuses... yeah right, given taht the AF was willing to take me with many exceptions, (yes they can make exceptions to almost everything) except that my hubby was deployed and was an EM, and I would have been given a commision... go tell that story to someobody else.

God I hate these liars!

By the way here is some of what my hubby saw

back on the line for this fiasco

THe Sub Force if regular navy so you woudl think they had no problems, right?

WRONG!

Some of the things they had to contend with.

Canibalization of spare parts from units coming home

Lack of food in theater

Lack of toilet paper in theater

Lack of essentials such as oh ammo in theater.

Now this is a regular Navy unit, and they ended up feeding the Marine detachment at Bahrain, as Halliburton was doing all it could to feed them only MREs. Here is how they did it. You have duty from 0600-13:00, lunch is at 12:00 not our fault you could not make it.

By the way you would be amazed what you can do wiht Lima Beans, as they were substituted in a food requisition for everythying else.

Yep that is when we knew that the supply chain was broken.

Problem is most people are JUST NOW finding out how well the smirk supports the troops, really (Sarcasm)

Get the chimp out for the sake of our kids!

[Karenina]

24. Kick!

[indigobusiness]

25. Thanks

I hope everybody sees this.