Iraqi Soldiers Report

I havnt' blogged for a while so today I am going to catch up with the latest report from Iraq plus part 2 of my rise to the premier league.

All the text below is written by a US soldier serving out in Iraq.

"...This week Bush said "evil men obsessed with ambition and unburdened by conscience must be taken very seriously and we must stop them before their crimes can multiply.

OK folks was he talking about those elusive Iraqi terrorists or Karl Rove and "Scooter" Libby or maybe all of his administration. Evil is also such a strong word that a world leader should avoid using lest history judge in someone elses favor. The "Axis of Evil" by the way, two of the three countries were our allies at one time. Does that mean we have had Evil allies? Many of the artillery rounds used for IEDs are American 155mm rounds we sold to Sadaam Hussein. So in the end around the Reagan administration's actions in the eighties are killing American soldiers today.

I just wish he would stop using soldiers as political leverage stating that changing plans would be letting us down. Everyday he is letting us down. Politically he wants to draw down troop strength but we do not have enough soldiers to do the job correctly now. We get blown up by IEDs because there are not enough of us to cover the ground we are asked to cover. The left wants troops brought home so they can say the right was wrong(trust me I would like to go home) but if no one replaces those troops the ones remaining here are at greater risk of injury. The right wants to stay the course and also lower troop strength because they want to be re-elected.

Problem is commanders on the ground are saying we need more troops to do the job. Sound like any other war we have been in. Oh that's right we are not allowed to compare to "that" war, its unpatriotic. How about a frightening little statistic for those who hate to compare. ~500,000 troops in Vietnam at its height and 50,000 KIA over 10-15 years. That is 10%. We have been at ~100,000 troops in Iraq over the past 3 years and lets say we maintain that for 10-15 years. 2000 KIA in 3 years x 5 to reach 15 years and you have 10,000 KIA. That is 10%.

Someone needs to have the guts to speak the truth, whether it is the President, Congess, or the press. Are we here to force democracy down the throats of Iraqis or are we here to gain a foothold in the center of the arab oil fields, so we can continue to watch NASCAR and drive 6mpg SUVs? Are we here fighting a war or are we building a democracy? Soldiers cannot do both at the same time. We cannot succeed by destroying a mosque with insurgents firing from it one day and the next we build a clinic. Destroying the country at the same time we are rebuilding it only makes the US military seem foolish.

The press and the government state that Anbar province is really the only trouble spot. Americans need to look at a map of Iraq. Anbar takes up ~1/3 of the land mass of Iraq. Restated, only 1/3 of the country is completely lawless, the rest just can't stop suicide bombers and the murder of Iraqi lawyers, government officials, and soldiers on leave (Iraqi soldiers on leave cannot take their weapons with them because many never return to duty, so they go home unarmed, easy targets for insurgents). Back to the top of the page, there was a time in this country that giving up the name of an American spy was a crime called treason. Not a social slap on the wrist indictment with the probable promise of KBR or like board positions. I bet Libby would spill the truth if faced with the maximum penalty for treason(execution) and the offer of plea bargain. I obviously have had way too much time to read the news this week."