Obviously, the MSM doesn't give a damned what the soldiers or their families are thinking. Thank God there are blogs to give them a voice. Here's a summary with links to some of the military blogs so that you all can see what's on their minds right now.
Any Dem who still hasn't come to grips with the FUBAR mess in Iraq or who is getting wobbly in the face of the Bush spin and is afraid to criticize the President should look to these patriots for sustenance and strength.
First up, my friend and fellow North Carolinian,
Stan Goff, a retired green beret and parent of an Iraq War veteran, wrote about the 2,000th soldier killed a few weeks ago.
2,000 - WHO WILL BE THE LAST TO DIE IN THIS ILLEGAL, IMMORAL WAR?
By Stan Goff
...It doesn't shock me, but I find myself blindsided by my own reaction to it. The foreknowledge is nothing more nor less than knowing that human beings are being fed into this senseless killing with such regularity now that it doesn't even show up in the news until we hit these sick, decimalized milestones. And I am feeling such rage right now that I can hardly hold back the tears.
I wonder if the Bush administration is reading about this right now. I doubt it, what with indictments and the other minutiae of high office that preoccupy them.
Richard Nixon and George W. Bush had one thing in common, aside from party affiliation. They didn't read the stuff people sent to them. They relied on agenda-laden advisors.
...The rate of terror attacks worldwide has tripled since September 11th, so the world is no safer. No one has "won the war but lost the peace" in Iraq -- one of the most Orwellian phrases imaginable, repeated like a drunken mantra to sustain denial about the reality of Iraq. The war has never been won. All that was accomplished was a bloody occupation...The US taxpayer is footing a $6 billion a month bill for the war in Iraq; and future taxpayers will get the bill for over $8 trillion in national debt, 40% of which is debt now owned by foreign investors and central banks.
One trillion dollars is an enormous sum of money. So we aren't just sacrificing schools and health care and decent housing, but the futures of our children... who will be approached by more recruiters for more wars if something doesn't change.
2,000 is not just a number to reflect on, then go about our business. This is the equivalent of slapping one of those yellow ribbon magnets on a car that says "Support the Troops." It's easy, and it makes people feel better about their lack of action. It really is time to recognize a few things.
The US military occupation of Iraq is the single greatest catalyst for the violence there. Fewer than four percent of the fighters are foreign, and they are there because of the US presence. Over 75% of the daily attacks are directed at Americans, though more vulnerable civilians bear the brunt of these attacks. There are around 500 attacks per week in Iraq, and the recent referendum gymnastics have not changed this one whit -- in fact, these exclusive and US-managed affairs may actually make things much worse.
It's time to face these facts head-on, and to get out of Iraq now. Immediately. As quickly as the plans can be drawn up for redeployment. The Iraqis have coped with far more chaos from the occupation than they will without it, and -- however painful -- they will find their way better when it is THEIR way, not what the Bush administration DICTATES is their way. The argument that those who have died will have died in vain is sophistry of the cruelest kind. We do not say when children are killed by drunk drivers that they died in vain. We honor their memories by organizing to ensure that the same thing doesn't happen to others.
Who will be the last to die in an unwinnable war? And who will be accountable?
The way we support the troops -- as human beings, not occupiers -- and honor the memories of those who have already died -- whatever nationality, is to bring every American troop home, and do it now.
Fernando Suarez del Solar, a gentle and eloquent man whose son was killed in Iraq in 2003, also wrote about the 2000th death:
...We have reached 2000. 2000 young people, each with a dream, each with enormous potential, each manipulated and deceived for immoral reasons by the group of powerful men who dragged us into a criminal war. 2000 families destroyed, 4000 parents devastated, with their most precious treasure--their children--torn from them. And who cares? Who cares about these young people who are dying? Only the families care, it seems, since Bush's criminal government continues with its rhetoric about how Iraq is better off and how we will not leave until the mission is completed. What mission? The personal agenda of a ruling clique because clearly there is no humanitarian mission in Iraq. When I learned that we had reached the awful figure of 2000, I wept. I wept because the pain of knowing that another young American had died reminded me of my own tragedy and my own pain. I thought about his parents, his mother who must feel the ache in her soul knowing that her son died in an unnecessary war, and his father who, like me, was proud of his son and of his nation. And unexpectedly his nation betrayed him and his son was gone.
I do not know if Bush in his self absorption and his feigned Christianity understands the tremendous suffering he is causing--the families' anguish, the harm to our nation that he has placed in even greater danger. But I am sure about one thing. Bush will receive his punishment, a punishment that will make him cry tears of blood as my family and 1999 other families are shedding as they remember their lost children...
Peter, the father of two Iraq/Afghanistan soldiers writes:
...I am sickened and furious by the continued idiocy of many Americans who continue to believe the lies of our government. My oldest son refused to torture and kill civilians for information about Taliban leaders, as ordered by his commanding officers in Afghanistan. He suffered the result of this refusal, and I am grateful that he is still alive and out of the Army. My second son fought bravely in Iraq and feels that he was able to do some good for the Iraqi people. I am proud of both of my sons.
I pray daily that the American people take to the streets, and by voting, force our government, the Bush Adminstration and Congress to stop this insanity and bring the troops home now. A friend of mine wore an appropriate button on his shirt. It was an American flag and it read, "Could be prouder." My friend is a Marine Corp vet who served in Viet Nam. There is no illusion of what is happening. What is an illusion is the number of American citizens who continue to believe such a lie...
An unnamed parent of a soldier from PA serving in Iraq, writes:
My son is actively serving in the Army, in Iraq. He served his three years that he signed up for and has been extended thanks to the Stop Loss policy. This is his second time being in Iraq, this time going on one year.
All is not what it seems in Iraq. Most of the media attention goes to the ones serving on the front lines, but lately - hardly any attention because of the hurricanes. God bless those that risk their lives every day and thank God that my loved one doesn't risk his life daily (not yet...). He says that they are forgotten and no one cares what happens to them. I didn't want to believe that statement for the longest time, but seeing/hearing him mentally deteriorate has made me a believer...
...Another thing facing some soldiers is lack of proper medical care. They are regarded as mentally weak if they try to seek help and are talked out of getting counseling. They are called names and given labels for wanting to seek help and are ostracized for their religious beliefs.
I know he is not alone in this, there are others going through the same torment every day. Some are afraid to speak out, fearing that their futures and veteran's benefits will be affected. They live day to day keeping quiet and minding their business, not wanting to rock the boat. Some are on the edge of a serious breakdown, they might hurt someone or themselves. It is like a nightmare that they can't wake up from: verbal abuse, sleep deprivation, overwork, dangerous missions...
...Unless we "Bring Them Home Now", how much more needless suffering will our loved ones have to endure?
I have never felt so helpless in all of my life.
PLEASE Bring Them Home Now.
An unnamed soldier serving in Iraq, writes:
Not many people in the US know that since the Georgia Army National Guard has been in Iraq how many people we have lost. We lost 8 guys in a week, from the same company (B Co. of 2/121 Infantry). Both incidents were Humvee's blown into pieces by large IEDs south of the Airport, near Baghdad. Then we lost some engineers attached to 2/121 (B or A).... same area! They were hit by a suicide vehicle loaded with explosives.
The first attacks were brutal, the men were in chunks, and my friends responded and helped pick up the pieces. Do Americans know what this is over here? It's not a f*** movie, have they ever seen a body blown apart like I have - most, No. Don't they realize many of us are not coming home. Go read the www.ajc.com articles, many are still thinking we are dying for a just cause - and we are not. We are driving around these backroad farm villages being ambushed by IEDs and accomplishing nothing.
A Troop
Another North Carolinian, James Protzman,a Marine veteran, writes:
American flags and yellow ribbons adorn the streets of Jacksonville today, while young Marine families scrape and scramble to make ends meet. With too many parents coming home in coffins, the grim scent of grief carries heavy on the wind. A million miles away in Chapel Hill, words fail to make sense of their deaths.
But another breeze is stirring on the coastal plain this summer, fanning reluctant flames of doubt. About the war. About the commander in chief. Marines may be fighters, but they are not chumps. They come angry to the truth: their friends in Iraq are dying for a lie.
Sgt Zachary Scott Singley is a soldier currently in Iraq. He writes:
...Looking back on my and my team's accomplishments it seems like the end of our tour will be anticlimactic. Even after capturing and ridding Iraq of many 'bad men' so many more have only come to take up the fight against us. How could this be? Perhaps it is because we have become "the Red Coats" in the eyes of the Iraqis, and to them this is their own version of our revolutionary war...
...It is amazing what I have taken from my time in the Army. You might be surprised that when I joined I was a staunch republican. I had the utmost faith in the system that is our government and I was young. I can't say that I am much older now (only 5 and a half years have passed) but I am wiser about many things. I have lost my innocence and I am not so naive. I have met some wonderful people, and I have also met some people that I would rather not know.
It is a lot different when you can communicate with the Iraqis you know. When you can ask them how they feel about things instead of just telling them to get back with arm signals. They are people, and they are like you and I. Time may tell things differently just as the victors write the history books, but it seems that such a great injustice has been done, and we are getting farther and farther from the things we promised the Iraqis when we invaded. I will not attempt to predict the future however I can't help but let it be known that I fear we have gone too far and that our eyes were so much larger than our stomach.
Another soldier currently in Iraq who who posted to the website of Bouncing Souls writes:
I have come to realize that, despite my will to hold on to my former self, this war has forever altered my personality to the core. Of course, how could it not, but then again I was naive enough to believe no matter what happened in my military service I would remain steady. But it is not so. Loud noises will forever startle me, I have a heightened paranoia, and I will have an amazing tolerance to live in the most miserable conditions imaginable. Things will never be the same .
I dread hearing explosions. It isn't the bang or the boom that batman comics depict. It all depends on how close you are to it. If you are right there close enough to have to check yourself over to make sure all your pieces are in place and there are no blood spots to indicate even the tiniest BB sized shrapnel hadn't punctured through your body. Because, when severely wounded pain sometimes sets in long after the wound occurs. If you are that close you can almost here a ping of splitting metal and then just a deafening roar. You feel it more than hear it. The concussion reaches right up your puckered ass and gets a firm grip on your stomach and pulls with all its weight. A blast that doesn't knock you down leaves you breathless and shaken. Then silence. It is a confusing silence while your brain tries to register what had just happened and the concussion leaves you staggering. It could last all day or seconds and when the worlds noises return as an accelerated barrage of information that attracts your attention all at once in all directions. The near miss is sometimes better than the far away explosion. That is the deep bass thump that has a swosh and a rumble... You hope that the rising smoke on the horizon isn't a signal that a close friend has been killed. Since we learned that most explosive devices explode upwards in a cone it is safest at ground level. I will mostly likely embarrassingly dive to the ground every time a car backfires or a door slams.
I have learned from my short leave back to the States that my paranoia takes heavy effect in crowded public areas. I end up trying to spin around and around and I dislike having strangers close to me. I can't stand sitting with my back to a room or having a person stand over me while I am sitting down. I tend to size up people and try sensing their motives. I fit them into a profile. I keep a look out when I am in new buildings for possible exits and red zones that I can not see. Or stay alert for possible intersection danger areas that would make a likely kill sac if a fire fight was to brake out at a downtown restaurant, movie theater of shopping store. It will be hard to make true friends and I will hold grudges for a long time if ever betrayed. It isn't that I don't like people, but the fact that I don't know who I can trust. I battle an enemy outside the gate that wears the same clothes as the people I am supposed to be liberating. I have subversive views and peaceful progressive ideals that are under a microscope of conformity with checks and standards in place to weed out discipline cases like witch hunts. I can no longer even trust my own government.
I have learned to live in an eight foot by twenty four foot metal box with three other soldiers in a gravel lot with fifty other boxes and only two cold showers and six porta johns for bathrooms. When I leave my lot I have to wear a twenty pound vest of ceramic plates and a heavy kevlar helmet because mortar rounds, rockets and rocket propelled grenades are shot at us at all hours of the day. I have adapted to sand storms that cut flesh and heat waves that bleach sand white. I can now function for days with out food and sleep. I can sit motionless and quiet in a bush while bugs, spiders and scorpions crawl up and down inside my pant legs. I have learned to accept the fact that I might not see tomorrow and handle seeing good friends loss limbs and lives. I put on the same clothes every day that I have for the last nine months and have no concrete idea how much longer I will be forced to live in this barbed wired disgusting manner.
I miss lazy sundays where the biggest worry was getting to work on time. I miss snow flakes floating past the window while I was warm inside by the fire. I miss the sounds of household chores in the background while I watched pointless television. I miss midnight snacks. I miss seeing movies with girls. I miss having a few beers with friends while watching the ball game. I miss backyard barbeques. I miss the anticipation in the air as Christmas nears. I miss the trees changing into Autumn colors. I miss wearing clothes of my choosing. I miss long road trips. I miss my dog. I miss summer dips in the pool. I miss staying awake all night just to watch the sun go down. I miss live music. I miss freedom. I miss my mother. I miss the smile on my daughter's face.
I guess sometimes I just feel like a drop of water in a tidal wave that is crushing everyone I love. I can't stop it. I can only take part and watch innocent people drown. The worst thing is I signed up for the job and I'm getting something out of it in the end. But as I look behind me I can see the many miles of death and destruction. I will ride my wave into shore and the man in the red white and blue top hat will hand me my check and thank me for a wonderful job. I might as well choke on the check and join the people I hurt so they can have their revenge.
rEPp