GIs' morale dips as Iraq war drags on

[rodeodance]

Source: Los Angeles Times




http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-fg-morale25aug25,1,3900260.story?coll=la-headlines-frontpage
From the Los Angeles Times


GIs' morale dips as Iraq war drags on
With tours extended, multiple deployments and new tactics that put them in bare posts in greater danger, they feel leaders are out of touch with reality.
By Tina Susman
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

August 25, 2007

YOUSIFIYA, IRAQ — In the dining hall of a U.S. Army post south of Baghdad, President Bush was on the wide-screen TV, giving a speech about the war in Iraq. The soldiers didn't look up from their chicken and mashed potatoes.

As military and political leaders prepare to deliver a progress report on the conflict to Congress next month, many soldiers are increasingly disdainful of the happy talk that they say commanders on the ground and White House officials are using in their discussions about the war.

And they're becoming vocal about their frustration over longer deployments and a taxing mission that keeps many living in dangerous and uncomfortably austere conditions. Some say two wars are being fought here: the one the enlisted men see, and the one that senior officers and politicians want the world to see.

"I don't see any progress. Just us getting killed," said Spc. Yvenson Tertulien, one of those in the dining hall in Yousifiya, 10 miles south of Baghdad, as Bush's speech aired last month. "I don't want to be here anymore."......

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-fg-morale25aug25,1,3900260.story?coll=la-headlines-frontpage

---

and I posted this a bit earlier:

Forum Name General Discussion: Politics
Topic subject Morale dips as some GI's say leaders are way off base :
Topic URL http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x3476455#3476455
3476455, Morale dips as some GI's say leaders are way off base :
Posted by rodeodance on Sat Aug-25-07 09:11 AM



Morale dips as some GI's say leaders are way off base :

Looks like it would be above the fold"

--dissing the 'leaders" on the front pages! whow ho


http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/?track=leftnav-printedition

[bronxiteforever]

1. Kick & rec'd

[Amonester]

2. K&R "I don't see any progress" (sad but true...)

Someone still sane: bring them back home, k?

[IndianaGreen]

3. In 1917, Russian soldiers refused to fight, shot or arrested their officers, and returned home

to topple the Tsar that send them to war.

History will repeat itself!

[TwilightGardener]

4. Noooo!!! Don't believe it! They want to keep fighting! However

long it takes, however many of their buddies get killed or maimed, they want VICTORY!!! Or, whatever it is they're fighting for...

[gratuitous]

5. Why do the GIs hate the troops?

Has Bill Kristolnacht been notified?! Time for some thunder on the right from the National Review, the 82nd Chairborne and the 101st Fighting Keyboarders to remind those lucky folks on the ground in Iraq that they're fighting for that most sacred of all rights: The rights of chickenhawks to prosecute wars in air-conditioned comfort from their generously upholstered backsides with someone else's money and someone else's kids.

[msongs]

6. hre here! well said, and nice phrases too :-) would make a great tv ad nt

[treestar]

10. 82nd Chairborne, LOL!

good one!

But I thought their morale was hurt by librul cowards dissing their great leader and the war? :sarcasm:

[Grandrose]

7. K&R

What a sad situation, I feel really bad for the GI's!:banghead:

[Magleetis]

8. Show them

the ads from freedoms watch.

[L0oniX]

9. "Military men are just dumb stupid animals to be used as pawns in foreign policy." - Henry Kissinger

shoulda woulda coulda blah blah blah

[meowomon]

11. Oh My God. This is so Sad

I feel so bad for these brave men and women who signed up to defend their country only to have the government use them so horribly. This is just despicable on the part of our government and military officers.

[tactics]

12. most signed up for college

when i first signed up in 96 i did so for college. infantry in the 82nd(3/505). that chairborne sh+t BETTER be sarcastic. got out right before 9/11. came back in february 06, infantry, to the 101st. again that BETTER have been sarcastic. i was in yousifiya, (2/502) though i dont remember a chow hall, just a cot to eat mres every day. i came back in (forgoing my electrical engineering/philosophy degrees, you cant make this up) fully knowing what i was getting into. i KNEW it would be hell, but my brothers need people like me next to them. MOST really dont know what theyre getting into. MOST, who signed up for college, dont have the heart or will to fight much longer. i am doubting patriotism of those, only stating it isnt worth it anymore.
SOLDIERS FOLLOW ORDERS AND DO WHAT THEYRE TOLD. thats what they do. see now im in 10th mowtown, ah! no insults, and maybe it takes an enlightened zen buddhist to say (see i TOLD you you CANT make this up) soldiers are fighting as long and as hard as they can. it is the CIVILIAN whose turn it is to fight. the only legal form of revolution is to vote. to legally demonstrate.
YOU ARE NOT FIGHTING AS LONG AND AS HARD AS YOU CAN. we are not hearing you. they are not hearing you.
men start and end wars, soldiers only have to fight them.

[mia]

16. "it is the CIVILIAN whose turn it is to fight.

the only legal form of revolution is to vote. to legally demonstrate.
YOU ARE NOT FIGHTING AS LONG AND AS HARD AS YOU CAN. we are not hearing you. they are not hearing you."


I hear you, tactics. Welcome to DU.

[cornermouse]

13. Sounds like a redo of Vietnam to me.

[TexasLawyer]

14. K&R

[followthemoney]

15. Shhh, don’t tell the Troops.

Don’t let them know they have been lied to about the war in Iraq. It is much better that they stay focused on the occupation. Imagine how they would feel if they were to learn that they were lied to and all the suffering they have gone though was not for any real necessary purpose and for all their good intentions, all they really have done is make the world a more dangerous place.

They didn’t know it though. They were just following orders. The troops are never consulted by the officer corps or the politicians. They were kept in the dark as they always are, only being told the minimum of what they need to know. How could it be their fault? It can’t be, so they must be protected. They may learn this when they grow old and are more mature, but right now they would be so disappointed in the middle of their youth to learn that theirs is a wasted youth. It might be more than many of them could handle. It is much better to shield them for as long as possible from the terrible knowledge of what their good intentions have made possible.

To withdraw now from Iraq might make them suspect that everything is not as it should be. This would be too much for them to bear. We can’t withdraw. We must continue to save them from the terrible burden that they are not ready to face. They are, after all, like children. Trusting beings that they are, they would be shattered to find out that what they have done is of no value. Even if they were told that they are loved for their good intentions and that is all that matters to us. They wanted to be good. They only wanted to be told they were needed. Don’t tell them they were betrayed by those that sent them into this earthly version of hell. They really don’t need to know.

They must stay and kill and be killed for their own good. They must never hear a word that might cause them to think and question their own action in support of a great lie. So stop all of this anti-war talk.

Support The Troops.