The Reasons Why
Today is a day for putting a human face on what’s happening in Iraq. Let’s start with Debra Morgan Pardee and her post at TPM Cafe, “So, Now We Wait. Again”, about waiting for a phone call from her son in Iraq.
Six members of my son’s company died yesterday in Diyala Province, Iraq, killed in a massive explosion that entirely destroyed a Stryker vehicle. Only one person survived. My daughter-in-law spent the whole day with her best friend and was with her when she received word that her fiancé had been killed.
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My daughter-in-law and her friend were shopping at the mall when the call came in. She collapsed on the floor, and it took 15 minutes to “peel her off the floor,” I learned later.
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When I learned the news, I was seven miles from my car, riding on this beautiful bike path. I was happy; I had had a really, really nice day. I had ridden seven miles to sit beside a lovely stream; experiencing it’s cool, flowing water was like meditation.
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The bike path ran through farms and pastures and creeks. Spring flowers were blooming everywhere. Life was burgeoning all around me. I thought about the yurt I would like to have someday and how it would look set in a beautiful place like this. I could see in my minds eye how it would glow like a yellow candle on warm summer nights. I could almost hear frogs and crickets serenading a full moon.
Then my cell phone rang. I stopped, pulled it from my pocket and saw it was my daughter-in-law. I remember smiling, thinking she was calling to find out where I’d wandered off to.
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As I hung up, I felt like someone had hit me in the gut and I couldn’t catch my breath. I stood there on the side of the bike lane, looking down at the cell phone in my hand, letting her words sink in, thoughts of my son swirling inside my head.
This is real. This is war. And all the killing and dying is real. It isn’t just happening to someone else. It’s happening to us. It’s happening to young people we know, people who are just starting out in life. Young men and women planning weddings, having babies, thinking about their lives “after the Army.” This particular young man was only 23 years old.
Read Debra’s complete post here. It’s powerful.
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Debra’s compatriot at TPMCafe, Deanie Mills, talks about the toll on those soldiers who aren’t wounded by the IED that their convoy runs into in “A Black Matter for the King”. Deanie’s son is a marine in Iraq.
Even if you are lucky enough to survive the IED or the sniper or the rocket propelled grenade that killed your buddies or blew off their legs and hands and arms and burned them, you have to be there for them. You have to pull them from burning vehicles when their skin slips off in your hands like a glove. You have to tie a tourniquet around spurting stumps to save their lives.
You have to watch them die.
It’s not pretty, when a buddy dies in combat. Sometimes they fight to live, and you can see them fighting, and you can see the young medic working valiently to save them, and you can see the life leave their eyes.
And then you have to go back to where you lived together, and help gather up their photographs of wife and children or mom and dad and girlfriend, and the letters from home they have saved, and other things.
And then you have to live.
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It’s not enough that they are exposed to intense combat conditions 10-12 hours a day, seven days a week, for months on end, but this is the first war in our history where they have not been permitted to rotate in and out of a rear area where some measure of rest and recreation was possible.
This is the first war I know of in our history where you don’t just serve your deployment. You serve it knowing you will have to go back, and the whole time you are “home” you are training for more combat for your next deployment, and then you have to go back.
And then you have to go back.
Deanie talked about the phone call from her son made at 3 am Iraqi time on her own blog. It tells the story of emotional stress in a whole new way. I won’t attempt to excerpt it. Just read it and come back.
Deanie referenced a reporter, Dexter Filkins of the NY Times, in another post, saying that his reporting was authentic. She mentioned a specific article that he’d written, “THE STRUGGLE FOR IRAQ: INSURGENCY HOTBED; In Ramadi, Fetid Quarters and Unrelenting Battles” (subscrip only). (The IHT has an unrestricted copy here.)
Dexter and NY Times photographer Joao Silva put together a tribute to a soldier who was killed while they were there—an audio-photo show called “The Reach of War: Farewell to an American Soldier”. Take a deep breath.
There are other pictures and stories like this one of Rahid Sabah Abid.
And stories like this:
Names of the Dead
Published: April 27, 2007
The Department of Defense has identified 3,327 American service members who have died since the start of the Iraq war. It confirmed the deaths of the following Americans yesterday:
GASPERS, Kevin J., 26, First Lt., Army; Hastings, Neb.; 82nd Airborne Division.
KING, Jerry R., 19, Specialist, Army; Browersville, Ga.; 82nd Airborne Division.
KNOLL, Garrett C., 23, Pfc., Army; Bad Axe, Mich.; 82nd Airborne Division.
LOCKER, Kenneth E. Jr., 28, Staff Sgt., Army; Wakefield, Neb.; 82nd Airborne Division.
MARESH, Jeremy E., 24, Specialist, Army; Jim Thorpe, Pa.; First Battalion, 213th Air Defense Artillery.
MARSHALL, Randell T., 22, Sgt., Army; Fitzgerald, Ga.; 82nd Airborne Division.
MOORE, William C., 27, Staff Sgt., Army; Benson, N.C.; 82nd Airborne Division.
PEARSON, Brice A., 32, Sgt., Army; Phoenix; 82nd Airborne Division.
RODRIGUEZ, Michael J., 20, Specialist, Army; Sanford, N.C.; 82nd Airborne Division.
VAUGHAN, Michael L., 20, Sgt., Army; Otis, Ore.; 82nd Airborne Division.
These are the reasons why we work to bring our troops home from Iraq and we will not give up.
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Deanie shared one more story recently that’s intensely personal.
Why They Call It “Leave”
It’s hard to think of anything to say worth saying after reading something like that.
But we need to remind one another that these are real people that we talk about when our government talks about “extending the surge” and this does that in such a powerful way.
Then she wrote this about her son and a t-shirt that he bought her on a trip to Tombstone, AZ.
The shirt had a quote from Wyatt Earp, (the movie version),
“You called down the thunder. Now you got it. Tell ‘em I’m coming, and HELL’S coming with me.”
Deanie wrote that he called her after she got the t-shirt and said:
It is very sad to learn of the very personal cost of war on the families of those who have lost their loved ones to the war in Iraq and the war in Afghanistan. I was very disappointed when the president vetoed the Iraq war spending bill. I hope that the new bill proposed in the House will include a deadline for withdrawing all combat troops in one year. So far there is no indication that there will be a deadline to withdraw troops. Instead of funding the war till July of this year and proposing benchmarks without any significant pressure being brought on the Maliki government
I hope Democrats will instead focus on setting a deadline as Sen. Kerry had previously proposed in 2006. Any legislation that will be sent to the president must include a deadline or timetables. I hope that democrats in the Senate will be more forceful than the House democrats in whatever legislation they will propose. While funding will have to be provided at some point I hope that it will come with conditions.
The Maliki government has not shown any inclination to meet benchmarks before. Thus, proposing benchmarks must come with some kind of enforcement and the only enforcement that will make certain that benchmarks are met is a deadline. As Sen. Kerry has said previously the Iraqis have responded positively to deadlines before. They could respond positively if deadlines are tied into the benchmarks.
Also I would like to see legislation that will set up a series of international and regional diplomatic conferences that will include the members of the National Security Council and the Arab League among other organizations and countries. The U.S. must play a larger role in negotiations as we must foster increased communication with all of Iraq’s neighbors. Without a diplomatic effort that is serious and consistent we will not see the kind of compromises that are essential. So far Secretary of State Rice has unfortunately not shown the kind of leadership that is essential in bringing a diplomatic resolution to the political issues.
Peace in Iraq is essential to peace in the Middle East.
It is beyond comprehension that the Iraqi government is considering a two month vacation with our troops and their citizens dying every day.
SteveAudio quotes Sen Kerry on his blog:
http://tinyurl.com/2vrtzh
I guess the Maliki and the Iraqi Parliament have found a role model in Bush. When the going gets tough, the ‘tough’ take vacation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljqv-kwx-VE
Iraq is a mounting tragedy. The war should never have been launched and every day it continues is a crime. It seems that everyone is stalling for time. I see at least three wait-and-see time frames in this article.
From Bush’s surge announcement in January:
Insurgencies last “an average of more than 10 years,” which means it could be 15 years, 20 years, 30 years… with no guaranteed win. When it’s against a foreign entity, insurgents win! What are the chances Bush will win the Iraqis “hearts and minds” when his goal is to crush the insurgency? Insurgents = Iraqis. That’s a quagmire, but the insurgency is not the only problem. In fact a bigger problem, which is also compounding the violence caused by the presence of U.S. troops, is Iraq’s civil war, and it’s brutal. Also, despite the claims that staying means containment and the fear mongering about withdrawal, the violence is slowly creeping into the Kurdish areas. The Green Zone is under increasing attacks; the Iraqi Parliament is calling for a timetable; and the country in gripped by non-stop violence.
In summary:
Visiting anysoldier.com as suggested by a blogger here back in January will make you feel better along with the troops. You can get a flat rate box at the post office and fill it as heavily as possible for about $8.40 in postage. You have to fill out a form listing the contents and addresses at the post office too. Food items are to be sent apart from non-food items. The anysoldier.com site gives other shipping directions. You can select a soldier name and read their requests with the number of times their address has been requested. You can just send letters and cards to the addresses too. Visiting anysoldier.com is a positive action to take along with sending something requested off. Remember that this is an all volunteer armed forces. In January I wrote in letters to a soldier or two that nothing will change until the next Presidential election. Until a Democrat is elected President in 2008 the war will go on because President Bush will not back down and Congress cannot do anything about it since they voted approval for the war in the beginning. Changing to greener and more energy conserving lifestyles and supporting the troops by visiting anysoldier.com and providing benefits as possible is enough and all anyone can do. Disagree?