From The Associated Press, 12/6/06:
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-iraq-skeptical-troops,0,904283.story?coll=sns-ap-nationworld-headlines
U.S. Soldiers in Iraq Welcome New Plans
By WILL WEISSERT
Associated Press Writer
RAMADI, Iraq --
American troops in one of the most dangerous corners of Iraq welcomed
plans for change Wednesday as the Pentagon prepared for a new chief
and a bipartisan commission urged a new war strategy.
But many of the soldiers from Company C, 1st Battalion, 37th Armored
Regiment were skeptical they'll be going home anytime soon, despite a
high-level U.S. panel's recommendation that most combat troops leave
Iraq by early 2008.
"There's no way we're leaving in two years, no matter what any
recommendation says," Spc. Eisenhower Atuatasi, 26, of Westminster,
Calif., said.
He thought 2012 was more realistic.
Sgt. Christopher Wiacik, 28, of Lavonia, Mich., also was pessimistic.
"It's just a study group. It's not really going to affect the
president. I don't see any major changes happening until presidential
elections start," Wiacik said.
"I think both sides will promise to get troops out and give timelines
then, but not before."
The U.S. Army troops, based in the Sunni insurgent stronghold of
Ramadi, are still reeling from learning two months ago that their tour
was being extended until at least February.
"We've been here for 12 months now and there's been no progress," said
Spc. Richard Johnson, 20, of Bridgeport, Conn., as he manned a machine
gun on the rooftop of an outpost ringed by a shallow moat of sewage.
Nearby buildings have been leveled by rocket or tank fire, and others
are riddled with bullet holes.
The neighborhood only has electricity a few hours a day and most
streets are barricaded with barbed wire and blast walls.
"It's like holding a child's hand. How long can you hold onto his hand
before he does something on his own?" Johnson said.
"How much longer do we have to get shot at or blown up?"
The bipartisan Iraq Study Group, led by former Secretary of State
James A. Baker III, and former Rep. Lee Hamilton, said Wednesday that
the United States faces a "grave and deteriorating" situation after
nearly four years of war in Iraq.
The panel recommended the U.S. reduce political, military or economic
support if the Iraqi government cannot make substantial progress
toward national reconciliation and that American forces shift to a
training role.
1st Lt. Gerard Dow said he agreed with the commission's assessment
that the situation in Iraq was "grave and disappointing."
"In Iraq, we try to win the hearts and minds of population," said Dow,
32, of Chicago.
"They want Americans out of here. They blame us for all their
problems. They look at us as the terrorists and then they turn around
and help the terrorists who are trying to kill us."
Dow trained Iraqi soldiers in Ramadi and in the north during his first
assignment in Iraq, and he doubts U.S. forces will be able to hand
over the fighting by early next year as the commission recommends.
"The Iraqi army is getting there," he said.
"But they are still not where they need to be and I doubt they will be
by then. Too many times, they are in a selfish state of mind. Too
often they are along for the ride while we do the work for them."
He said the largely Shiite soldiers sometimes loot homes, fail to
follow orders and openly acknowledge that they don't trust the Sunni
population.
"They are only going to do the right thing if someone's watching and
they know they will be punished if they don't," he said.
"That's not every soldier. I have met some great guys, but it is a lot
of them. They don't care, and this is their country."
Asked if he was frustrated with the situation in Ramadi, he replied:
"That doesn't cover it."
"U.S. soldiers are dying trying to help people who don't want their
help," he said.
"That makes you angry."
Dow said elders at a nearby mosque broadcast messages saying Americans
are the cause of all the problems in Ramadi, the capital of restive
Sunni-dominated Anbar province, 70 miles west of Baghdad.
The soldiers here also welcomed news that Robert Gates had been named
to replace Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld.
Gates told a Senate committee Tuesday that "all options are on the
table" about how to resolve the Iraq crisis.
"Yes, please! All of us want to change what we're doing because we're
not doing very much," said Staff Sgt. Rony Theodore, 33, of Brooklyn,
N.Y.
Wiacik also hoped for change.
"We're just sitting around not making any progress. It's annoying.
You're not motivated to help anybody," he said, adding his contract
was up in 2008 and he did not plan to re-enlist.
"I don't want to live my life like this," he said.
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These people need to be home with their close ones, not in that
horrible quagmire.
Harry
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