September and it's raining again in the Northwest. Blessed rain. We haven't had much of it here this season, believe it or not. Watching the weather is one of my obsessions and my way of marking time perhaps.
Saving old messages on my cell phone that I rarely track back through - it's another peculiar habit I have. Sure, I get prompted every few weeks to save or delete. My oldest message on my cell dates to September 2005. The message is from my son-in-law on the evening he left for Iraq last year for his first tour.
Each time I hear his voice or see his picture, or see him face to face, I am anguished and the anguish lurks near every other more appropriate emotion I feel. He is a fine young man, with plenty of brashness and bravado befitting a young Marine. He stands straight and tall and so very American. He was a bullseye target in Iraq and will be again soon. Perfect fodder for an IED, as one of his occasional tasks is driving HUMVEEs.
Nick is married to my oldest daughter. This last Spring, he returned from a seven month-plus tour in Iraq; his time was mostly spent at Al Taqaddum and then someplace up north near the Iraq-Syria border.
Christmas in 2005 was there, in that unnamed place in Northwestern Iraq, on a base not so very well protected. He sent us photos at Christmas and there were some chilling images to a parent. Pictures of a cold, dusty, fortified base outpost building with a large plastic, lighted blow-up Santa Claus on the roof. Night pictures with Nick posed, ubiquitous cigarette hanging from one hand, M-16 gripped pointed diagonally down. The light from the Santa haloes his silhouette from the left and rear. It is the stance of young man far from home in a foreign and deadly place, an incongruous land, a place not meant for a plastic Santa. After seeing these photos, I worried over the holidays on how tempting a target that lighted Saint Nick was at night to mortars lobbed over the fence at the men and women inside.
Death be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadfull, for, thou art not so
The Fewer. The Proud.
Pfc. Vincent M. Frassetto, 21, of Toms River, N.J., died Sept. 7 while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar province, Iraq. He was assigned to 1st Battalion, 10th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.
Marine Pfc. Frassetto, 21
"He was the nicest kid, kind, quiet," said Walter Peto, Toms River High School North athletic coordinator. "He was the type of kid who would have made a great contribution to society and been a great father."
As with so many things in the years of this idiotic Bush regime, the reports out of Iraq on the condition and status of Marine deployment in the Al Anbar province are confusing at best and deeply, deeply disturbing on the very worst level. The "secret" Marine intelligence assessment of last month as reported in the New York Times (behind login), states that the "political and security situation in western Iraq is grim and will continue to deteriorate unless the region receives a major infusion of aid and a division is sent to reinforce the American troops operating there, according to the senior Marine intelligence officer in Iraq."
We are served the obligatory spin, a military media one-man blitz designed to counteract the negative intelligence assessment. Marine Maj. Gen. Richard Zilmer agreed with the assessment, but said, "It was not intended to address the positive effects coalition and Iraqi forces have achieved on the security environment over the past years..."
How is this to be interpreted? From all reports, there are around 25,000 to 30,000 American troops in the "Sunni Triangle". How many of those are there in support and administrative operations, not in a patrol or combat capacity? Perhaps a third? Closer to half in support and infrastructure? Additionally, in contrast to Zilmer's more confident comments, the recent necessary shifting of personnel towards the uptick of Baghdad militia violence undercuts the security environment in the Anbar province by moving the game pieces across the board to Baghdad:
"An American Stryker unit, which was under the overall Marine command, has been sent from Rawa to Baghdad to help with the operation there. Also, military police who had been earmarked for training the Iraq police in Anbar have also been sent to Baghdad. The Marines have sought to make up the shortfall by using existing troops."
If the shortfall of police and police training is made up of Marines, this is a misuse of the operational force. Marines are trained for combat, not for policing of a civilian population interspersed with "insurgents" or resistance fighters (however we name them), home-grown Al Qaeda, disenfranchised Sunnis.
For, those, whom thou think'st, thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poore death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
Hometown hero needs your support
In his first tour, Benson received a Purple Heart for injuries with shrapnel. He received his second Purple Heart for his injuries at Habbaniyah. He lost his left leg and part of an arm and has numerous internal injuries. "He's in serious condition," said his mother from Texas, " but he still has his sense of humor."
Cpl. Johnathan L. Benson, 21, of North Branch, Minn., died Sept. 9 from wounds suffered on June 17 while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar province, Iraq. He was assigned to 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif.
And soonest our best men with thee doe goe,
Rest of their bones, and soules deliverie.
Let's see. The majority of Iraqi army troops standing up are comprised of Shi'a. The overwhelming population of the Sunni Triangle is...Sunni. When a volatile situation cannot be stabilized with the current plan in place, how will Major General Zilmer's "comparable success" be "achieved in the political and economic arenas" ?
To all appearances, and perhaps mostly to my own terrified analysis, neither the US administration, nor the Iraqi government values pouring resources into this alienated province. The only resources the US seems to willing to commit consist of underfunded and undersourced US troops - ah, it's a volunteer army, anyway, and there are always expendable American lives.
"Anbar does not have valuable resources like oil. Nor does its Sunni population appear to represent an important constituency for the Shiite-dominated government in Baghdad. Although there is economic growth in relatively secure areas, much of it can be attributed to the American-supported reconstruction effort. The level of economic activity in the province is just a fraction of what it was before 2003 (emphasis mine), the assessment says."
Major Peter Kilner, a West Point instructor, was interviewed recently by USA Today. The following statements in the interview illustrate the stagnant situation and the sheer idiocy of how the American military is forced to operate in Al Anbar without clear political guidance or any change in military strategy:
"Once a war's goal seems unclear or unreachable, morale sinks and stress rises. 'What makes being a soldier great is the nobility of it -- good fighting evil,' Kilner says. 'If you lose that, all this sacrifice is for no good reason.' Kilner, who organizes online discussion forums for Army field officers, says he recently got an e-mail from an airborne unit commander who said he feared 'some of our soldiers are marking time until that inevitable IED or sniper round finds them.'"
This is the resignation I saw and heard in Nick when he returned. "You get used to it." Marking time is more or less what he and thousands of others are also reduced to as they wait for yet another redeployment to an area that has seen little or no demonstrable progress from the initial tour.
What was it that Einstein said about insanity? I believe it was something about doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
Thou art slave to Fate, Chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poyson, warre, and sicknesse dwell
Mercury News, September 4, 2006
"American patrols around Taqaddum have come under attack twice in the last three days, the Marine logistics base has been hit by almost nightly rocket and mortar attacks for three weeks and the Marines have taken significant casualties.
On Monday, they assembled at the dusty base chapel to remember Staff Sgt. Joshua Hanson, who was killed on Aug. 30 when his Humvee ran over an anti-tank mine.
Hanson's unit, Company A of the 2nd Combined Arms Battalion, 136th Infantry, was sent to join a four-day sweep of a town near Taqaddum. The Guardsmen often served as overwatch, watching the Marines' backs while they were patrolling. Hanson's Humvee was sandwiched between two Bradley fighting vehicles when it ran over the buried anti-tank mine.
The improvised explosive device (IED), which had a propane accelerator to make it more powerful, detonated under Hanson, blowing his helmet off, pushing the back seat up and trapping his legs. "
"The good thing at times like these is that we all know each other," said Staff Sgt. Roger Riewer. "The bad thing is that we all know each other."
Nick will be returning to Iraq sometime in the next six or seven months, earlier if his group is called up sooner.
Fearing his answer, I ask him if he will re-enlist when his tour is over before there is resolution in Iraq, and if his buddies return for a third tour? We had talked about this shortly after he returned in April and I know at that time that the prospect of re-enlisting was far, far from his mind, even given the "incentives" they offer.
All he will say is that it is very likely that his Marine group will be the last to leave Iraq. In their capacity as support for a helicopter air wing, they fill a critical role in both offensive and defensive operations - without regard as to whether there is increased troop presence or troop reduction. They service the helicopters, handle and load the artillery, and do recovery on damaged aircraft when necessary. They hold the line.
"How do you ask a man to be the last man to die in Vietnam -- How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?"
John Kerry before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, 1971.
"Hi, it's Nick. You're probably asleep right now, but I just wanted to call you and say goodbye before I leave and I love you all. That's about it. Tell everybody that I'll miss them and that I'll see them all again soon."
September 29, 2005.
I can't erase this message - it has the sound of his voice, in case my daughter ever needs to hear it.
And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die.
Poetry phrase excerpts from John Donne