One Soldier's version of the truth

You know, one of the lamest excuses given for not attacking Iraq (or anybody) is that we don't attack everybody. (But give us time.)

And one of the lamest excuses for not doing a good thing when we can is that we don't do it for everybody. (Again, give us time.)

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I once had "a soldiers mind" cause I was one, In terms of what was going in the country I was in, I knew nothing other than what was in front of my face or the sights of my rifle-I was an expert. Doh. Oh yeah and I wrote wonderful letters home to mom about regional politics and socio-economic status of the natives.
bull hocky, however I did write home once to my aunt Betty re my analysis of catholic vs Buddhist participation in civic affairs and its changes during the US occupation. (she was really impressed and showed my letter to all her friends at her church)

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dlowan you are correct. That letter has been circulating for awhile. It does not negate the fact that the US forces, contractors, and social agencies in there are not doing wonderful things. It has been grossly underreported.

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au1929, exactly my point. All the alternatives cooked up other than the supposed existance of WMD for invading Iraq including ousting Sadaam do not seem to be worth the price we're paying for it. However, our head is in the noose -- we've stomped into the quicksand and it's sink or swim. Before we arrived there the country was a quagmire of ethnic and religious infighting ready to erupt. Is this going to be our Achillies' heel once again? Fools rush in where mortals fear to tread?

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Foxfyre wrote:

dlowan you are correct. That letter has been circulating for awhile. It does not negate the fact that the US forces, contractors, and social agencies in there are not doing wonderful things. It has been grossly underreported.

You gals are thinking of a very different letter a family member of the letter's author joined here and spoke about it (I can quote it if you would like).

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McGentrix wrote:

I appreciate it Bill. I too have spoken with many soldiers who have returned from Iraq and they tell of similar things.

Heh

How many Iraqi's have you talked too?

Thought so.

Perhaps - and I'm going out on a limb here - we should take soldiers opinions with a grain of salt, considering that I honestly couldn't imagine a more biased source.

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Well that's probably true. I have received the same or 'similar' letters would probably be stating it more accurately. And yes, most of them are probably more propaganda than personal experience. But it doesn't change my opinion about progress made in Iraq to date.

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Foxfyre wrote:

It has been grossly underreported.

I agree. But so have the negative impacts of the war, which have been underreported to an even greater extent.

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progress is our most important product, second only to propaganda, but it's a very distant second.

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Craven de Kere wrote:

Foxfyre wrote:
dlowan you are correct. That letter has been circulating for awhile. It does not negate the fact that the US forces, contractors, and social agencies in there are not doing wonderful things. It has been grossly underreported.

You gals are thinking of a very different letter a family member of the letter's author joined here and spoke about it (I can quote it if you would like).

Ah - thankee. I thought it had been updated - they sounded so similar.

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Foxfyre wrote:

You know, one of the lamest excuses given for not attacking Iraq (or anybody) is that we don't attack everybody. (But give us time.)

And one of the lamest excuses for not doing a good thing when we can is that we don't do it for everybody. (Again, give us time.)

Us?

Here's a great excuse for not attacking Iraq... we were already busy in Afghanistan. Now we're over-extended.

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is Detroit next?

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Yes, they both bear the mark of having been ghost written by Karl Rove or Andy Card, now don't they?

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Right
This letter is phoney, just like the one that the Pentagon PR Machine had soldiers sign and send to their local newspapers.

"It is amazing to me that the world put up with him for so long... knowing what we knew.

The world didn't give a damn and most of all Bush 1 didn't. Saddam was an ally of Bush 1 until Saddam got angry about Kuwait stealing his oil. When he asked if the Bush 1 Regime would interfere with his plans to invade Kuwait he was told the the US doesn't interfere with local disputes. This was a setup on Bush 1's part. Bush 1 and the Allies wanted to stunt Saddam's power in the region, hence the 1st Gulf War. All off a sudden from being an ally with Bush 1 Regime, Saddam was Hitler reincarnated. American ignorance is the reason these Criminal Regimes called our Govt. get away with their criminal activities.

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dlowan wrote:

Ah - thankee. I thought it had been updated - they sounded so similar.

There's a reason they sound similar. The US military has encouraged the soldiers to try to counter what they perceive as an imbalance in reporting*.

That's why the hallmark of each letter is the furor at the perceived imbalance. A tad overdone and political to be as effective as it could be but I don't fault them for trying to add a spin to what they think is being spun.

*I can't recall the details on this one, and don't plan to look it up so that's one of those "as is" claims of mine that anyone who disputes can feel free to disregard.

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There's a possibility this is yet another falsified e-mail. I sure didn't hear the same from my marine friend, but I suppose he's selfishly concerned about his own life. Good thing, since many Americans aren't.

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Anybody see any body bags or number of soldiers that have come back with some limbs missing? Nothing like a little bias on what good news is being misreported.

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c.i., what are you trying to say??

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Actually, I think it might be a real letter. I found it on a web-blog from Iowa too, with the same guy's name. He's written different things on some other blogs. I just think he's a little misguided in his vehemence. A lot of the problems he points to in Iraq (or that Iraq was suffering from prior to the US invasion) were caused more by the U.N. sanctions and the bull-headedness of the ass Saddam, then because Iraq was always a backward country.

I want to hear the truth whenever possible. The letter writer is misguided and was drawn into a war (remember, he's National Guard) under what I consider false and illegitimate premises. He's trying to justify it to himself. It is good that Iraq is coming out from under Saddam... too bad it is so late. Too bad we supported Saddam and gave him most of his power for so long. Too bad that the Middle East is a hotbed of unhappy people. Too bad that the real perpetrators of 9.11 weren't hauled out of Afghanistan last year instead of falling through our hands while the US fooled around in Iraq.

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Touche'

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One Soldier's version of the truth

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