Politics > Politics-USA > American soldier in Iraq: We could stay 10 years and it won't fix anything
| Topic: |
Politics > Politics-USA |
| User: |
"Harry Hope" |
| Date: |
29 May 2007 01:43:05 PM |
| Object: |
American soldier in Iraq: We could stay 10 years and it won't fix anything |
From International Herald Tribune, 5/27/07:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/05/27/news/delta.php
With allies in enemy ranks, GIs in Iraq are no longer true believers
By Michael Kamber
BAGHDAD:
Staff Sergeant David Safstrom does not regret his previous tours in
Iraq, not even a difficult second stint when two comrades were killed
while trying to capture insurgents.
"In Mosul, in 2003, it felt like we were making the city a better
place," he said.
"There was no sectarian violence, Saddam was gone, we were tracking
down the bad guys. It felt awesome."
But now on his third deployment in Iraq, he is no longer a believer in
the mission.
The pivotal moment came, he says, this past February when soldiers
killed a man setting a roadside bomb.
When they searched the bomber's body, they found identification
showing him to be a sergeant in the Iraqi Army.
"I thought, 'What are we doing here? Why are we still here?' " said
Safstrom, a member of Delta Company of the 1st Battalion, 325th
Airborne Infantry, 82nd Airborne Division.
"We're helping guys that are trying to kill us. We help them in the
day. They turn around at night and try to kill us."
His views are echoed by most of his fellow soldiers in Delta Company,
renowned for its aggressiveness.
A small minority of Delta Company soldiers - the younger, more recent
enlistees in particular - seem to still wholeheartedly support the
war.
Others are ambivalent, torn between fear of losing more friends in
battle, longing for their families and a desire to complete their
mission.
With few reliable surveys of soldiers' attitudes, it is impossible to
simply extrapolate from the small number of soldiers in Delta Company.
But in interviews with more than a dozen soldiers over a one-week
period, most said they were disillusioned by repeated deployments, by
what they saw as the abysmal performance of Iraqi security forces and
by a conflict that they considered a civil war, one they had no
ability to stop.
They had seen shadowy militia commanders installed as Iraqi Army
officers, they said, had come under increasing attack from roadside
bombs - planted within sight of Iraqi Army checkpoints - and had
fought against Iraqi soldiers whom they thought were their allies.
"In 2003, 2004, 100 percent of the soldiers wanted to be here, to
fight this war," said Sergeant First Class David Moore, a
self-described "conservative Texas Republican" and platoon sergeant
who strongly advocates an American withdrawal.
"Now, 95 percent of my platoon agrees with me."
It is not a question of loyalty, the soldiers insist.
Safstrom, for example, comes from a thoroughly military family.
His mother and father have served in the armed forces, as have his
three sisters, one brother and several uncles.
One week after the Sept. 11 attacks, he walked into a recruiter's
office and joined the army.
"You guys want to start a fight in my backyard, I got something for
you," he recalls thinking at the time.
But in Safstrom's view, the American presence is futile.
"If we stayed here for 5, even 10 more years, the day we leave here
these guys will go crazy," he said.
"It would go straight into a civil war. That's how it feels, like
we're putting a Band-Aid on this country until we leave here."
_________________________________________________
Let's start bringing these trapped folks home....NOW!!
Harry
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| User: "PagCal" |
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| Title: Re: American soldier in Iraq: We could stay 10 years and it won'tfix anything |
30 May 2007 06:01:02 AM |
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Harry Hope wrote:
From International Herald Tribune, 5/27/07:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/05/27/news/delta.php
With allies in enemy ranks, GIs in Iraq are no longer true believers
The haji now surround buildings, walk in, and ask "Where are the
foreigners?" Then, they drag them out, never to be seen alive again.
The other trick is fake checkpoints ... with the same results.
The 'Triangle of Death' is expanding every day as more and more of the
country is added to no-go zones for Americans.
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