Iraq War

I haven’t written much about the war in a while. It’s not that I’ve ignored it, but I’ve had to back away a bit from my constant focus on it. I chastise myself for that because I know that our Soldiers can’t back away and take a break from it. They are there, sleeping, eating and walking through it. I have the luxury of going back to real life when the war is weighing too heavily on me. They don’t have that luxury.

In all honesty, I have not agreed with everything I’ve seen written about the war. I have been discouraged. I have undying faith in the American military. I have lost faith in the political leaders that are orchestrating the movements of our military.

There are some things going on in Iraq that anger me so badly I have to not let myself think about it too much. Our Troops are not being treated the way they should be treated. They are not receiving the support of our government the way they should be. Marines should not be imprisoned at Pendleton and slandered all over the news by Senators. Our Soldiers should not be forced to interact nicely with Iraqi military and police who may or may not shoot them in the back the minute they turn around. Our Soldiers should not have to risk court martial to defend themselves.

It angers me that they are being instructed to be social workers and construction workers and chastised for being Soldiers. It angers me we have not been more aggressive in taking that country.

One of the reasons we find ourselves in this situation is the 24/7 news media. Everything is covered and slanted in one way or the other. Instead of cheering for our guys destroying an al-Qaeda cell, the news focuses on the heartrending photo of a civilian killed in the violence. The story around the photo is never told and we the people project our own emotions onto the photo and our Soldiers are further restricted in their movements.

The politicians and reporters visit the FOBs that are far away from the areas that are in chaos. I have never once seen a report coming out of the FOB my son has been living in for the past 10 months. I’ve never once seen a journalist filing a report from that area or a politician walking around in front of cameras in that area. They don’t walk through the raw sewage that constantly runs down the streets. They don’t visit a FOB that has running water only two hours a day for 3,000 plus men to use to wash that sewage off themselves, erratic electrical service, and is attacked with mortars and RPGs constantly throughout the day and night.

I’m sure the war is different for different people depending on where they are stationed and what their jobs are. When I hear the constant reports that everything is just grand over there, I wonder if those people are just in different places or are they just trying to put a positive spin on it. I rack my brain over what to believe and what not to believe as though my understanding it will somehow give me some kind of power over it. It wouldn’t.

I have no power whether I understand all the permutations, agendas and players that make up all the layers upon layers of the rotten onion that is Iraq and on a larger level the Middle East.

So what does all that mean? I have no idea. I don’t know the answers. I do know that war is uncertain and there is no knowing who will prevail and who will be defeated. It is not all about the most powerful military in the world or who the worst Soldiers are. The factors that play a part in the events are difficult to define and almost infinite.

Since my son has been in Iraq he has lost many friends and acquaintances. He lost several close friends to the war in recent days. Horrifically. It had nothing to do with their actions or their abilities as warriors. He aptly wrote to me that it’s nothing more than luck. Who was sitting where when the bomb hit.

Random luck plays an unbearable role in the outcomes of war.

I read Michael Yon’s article entitled ‘Be Not Afraid’ and found it strangely comforting. I haven’t agreed with every thing I’ve read that Michael Yon writes. I have wondered a time or two if the Iraq he is in is the same place my son describes. I don’t know if Michael Yon gets into the front line FOBs that are surrounded by al-Qaeda and Iraqis who are giving the enemy shelter and aid. I don’t know if he gets into the areas the have been described to me as more chaotic, violent and deadly than the Wild West. In those areas the western Soldiers are the only ones abiding by any rules or sense of decency at all.

But this article gave me a moment of hope. Perhaps our Troops really are going to be allowed to be more aggressive. Perhaps the ‘troops surge’ really will provide the much needed additional troops rather than just more guys to provide the extra security necessary because the Troops have been required to move into the neighbors and out of the semi-protection of the FOBs.

I don’t know what the truth is or what parts of what are true and which parts aren’t. But maybe we can have a bit of hope.

Be Not Afraid

You shall cross the barren desert, but you shall not die of thirst. You shall wander far in safety though you do not know the way. You shall speak your words in foreign lands and all will understand. You shall see the face of God and live.

Be not afraid.
I go before you always;
Come follow me, and I will give you rest.

[From a prayer card I found on a base in Anbar Province, Iraq.]

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Trackposted to Outside the Beltway, The Virtuous Republic, Perri Nelson’s Website, DeMediacratic Nation, Big Dog’s Weblog, Maggie’s Notebook, Right Truth, Shadowscope, Webloggin, Leaning Straight Up, The Amboy Times, The Bullwinkle Blog, Cao’s Blog, Conservative Cat, Jo’s Cafe, Pursuing Holiness, Rightlinx, third world county, Allie Is Wired, The Crazy Rants of Samantha Burns, The World According to Carl, Pirate’s Cove, The Pink Flamingo, Planck’s Constant, Right Voices, Gone Hollywood, OTB Sports, and The Yankee Sailor, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.