Soldier's View of Iraq

[Henry Hawk]

 

A Soldier's View of Iraq   



The following letter is a soldier's account of what is currently happening in Iraq.  It comes from 29 year-old Army Medic, Bryant Shurley.  Please note:  Bryant Shurley is not a politician, he is not a celebrity, nor is he a news reporter.  Bryant Shurley is a 29 year-old common American citizen who has willingly dedicated his medical skills, his time and energy, and possibly his life to doing whatever he can to ensure the security of his friends, of his family, and of his country. This message was forwarded to me from a friend of mine who has served 4 years in the Marines and 2 years in the US Army Reserve.  If you have any desire to learn the facts about the current state of affairs in Iraq, then read the following. 





"As simple as possible, but no simpler!" - Albert Einstein 


Date: Thu, 11 Jan 2007 00:17:06 -0800 (PST) From: Bryant Shurley <batmanvshomer@yahoo.com> Subject: My view of Iraq 


Following the article I sent about President Bush's national address and proposed troop increase, I thought it was a good idea to let you all know what the perspective is over here.  We're tired of hearing the American media's erroneously skewed version, we're tired of hearing the politicians squabbling over what they've read in a report, and we're tired of hearing the consistently ill-informed American liberals ranting and whining and complaining and protesting about things that they clearly know NOTHING about.



I've been over here for a couple of months now, and I've learned more about this country in that time than I did from a year's worth of watching CNN.  I've sat in mission briefs with Colonels, talked with village elders, had tea with Shieks, and played with the kids.  I agree with the President:  we need more troops, and we need to take greater action.



There are 3 major religious factions over here:  the Sunnis, the Shiites, and the Kurds.  The Shiites are in the majority, but Saddam was a Sunni, so he kept the Shiites in check.  Everyone hates the Kurds because they are Christian, and are therefore in the vast minority.  The Kurds received the brunt of Saddam's murderous tyranny.  Now that Saddam is gone, the Shiites have taken control of Baghdad.  The largely peaceful Sunnis are now the victims of radical Shiite terrorism.  So the young Sunni men, who can no longer go to work and support their families, do what all responsible young men would do:  they join the Sunni militia and battle the Shiites.  And thus the country sits on the brink of civil war.



But this war is between them.  The Iraqi Sunnis and Shiites largely do not concern themselves with the U.S. troops.  The insurgents who battle the Coalition Forces are from outside the country.  And the biggest problem down here isn't the insurgents, it's the politicians. Specifically, it's the local politicians.  Even though the country is currently controlled by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, downtown Baghdad is controlled by radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.  The Shiites follow al-Sadr, and thus the Prime Minister does what al-Sadr says. Think of it as if a warlord controlled New York and blackmailed the President into diplomatic immunity.  That is the real situation in Baghdad today.



When the 1st Cav (mainly 2/5 Cav) came here in 2004, they took downtown Baghdad (known as Sadr City) by force.  It cost many lives, but after one year, we held an iron grip on the largest insurgent breeding ground in Iraq.  The insurgents were afraid of the "Horse People", and rightfully so.  But when 1st Cav left, al-Sadr influenced the Prime Minister to kick out the Coalition Forces from that area of Baghdad.  He said the Iraqi military forces could hold the city.  But, all that happened after the U.S. troops withdrew was that al-Sadr regained control of his city, and thus it is now a heavily guarded radical Islamic fortress, a place where insurgents and terrorists can train and stockpile arms.  And, even though we want to, we cannot go back in there because the Prime Minister won't let us.  He has tied our hands, not the other way around.



So where does al-Sadr get his backing?  Most of it comes from Iran and Syria.  Iran supplies him with money and Syria supplies the terrorists. The insurgents that battle the Coalition Forces are mostly from Syria, but they are also from Somalia and dozens of other places outside of Iraq.  Iraq is literally a terrorist breeding ground.  They have terrorist and sniper schools here.  And why not?  They train by teaching them to attack the U.S. military forces here.  And they have an endless supply of these training tools.  They have factories in Sadr City to build bombs.  Both Iran and Syria have openly proclaimed that their number one goal in life is to destroy the great Western Devil and the little Western Devil (America and Britain).  Iran wants to control Iraq to further this purpose.  Al-Sadr will get to "run" the country and live like a king, but in reality Iran will pull the puppet strings.  Iran will have access to thousands of radical Shiites who will do whatever al-Sadr tells them to do, thus Iraq will be used as a breeding ground for terrorism that will be targeted directly at America and Britain. Recently, the Iraq Study Group advised that we should let Iran and Syria help with rebuilding Iraq.  Bravo to President Bush for striking that idea down and vowing to keep those two countries permanently out of Iraq.



So how do the Iraqi people feel about everything?  Of course they don't want the Americans here.  But they would far rather have us here than the Iranians.  My platoon visited an average Sunni village on a patrol just a few days ago.  Their only source of income is farming, as they can't go to the city to work for fear of violence.  Many of the young men have already run off to join the militia for no other reason than to feed their families.  They have no school or hospital near them and the community is slowly dying.  While I was there, the village elder's granddaughter was very sick, and I was able to treat her.  Afterwards, he invited me and my Platoon Leader to sit in his house and have tea with him, and we talked at length about the situation.



The people want peace.  The Shiites kill the Sunnis because al-Sadr tells them to.  The Sunnis fight back because they have no choice.  They are glad Saddam is dead (Sunni or not), but they do not want to replace him with another dictator in a politician's clothes (which is what al-Sadr would become).  And they especially don't want Iran in charge. Many innocent Iraqis will die if that happens.  These are the actual words that came out of the elder's mouth:



"We do not want America here, and America does not want to be here.  But you cannot leave, because the militias control the country.  America must use the might of its giant army and sweep through, root out, and destroy the militias.  Then Iraq can be free and you can leave."



What appears to have happened within the Iraqi diplomatic community is that the Prime Minister has finally realized that his days are numbered. If al-Sadr remains, he [the Prime Minister] will be kicked to the curb. So hopefully he is about to allow us to reenter Sadr City to root out and destroy the enemy.  A dramatic troop increase will allow us to do this effectively.  And the "Horse People" are back and ready to finish what they started over 2 years ago.



If we leave now, it will be a crushing failure for democracy and the Western way of life.  Iran will assume control over Iraq, and the end result will be more terrorist attacks on America.  The American people don't want soldiers dying over here, but it's better than American civilians dying over there.  Do NOT forget 9/11!  They will definitely do it again.  The moment we loosen our grip on the noose, they will do it again.  And the only way to root out the evil here is to stop beating around the bush, increase troops, and destroy the insurgents once and for all.  The Iraqi government cannot do this on their own.  The Iraqi security forces are inadequate for this task.  We are the only ones who can stop al-Sadr.



Feel free to share this with whoever wants a real and currently active soldier's opinion about the war.



SPC "Doc" Shurley
2/5 Cav, 1st CB







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-TRUTH is Unchangeable, No Matter What You Think, No Matter What is Politically Correct -

[awol]

how about another view?

http://aliveinbaghdad.org/category/video/

[H4TK]

I have a video I wanted to post here that I received in an email. How do i go about getting it to post?

[Magistrate]

Copy and paste the link from the address bar into your post. Then highlight it and click on the button above that looks like the Earth with a piece of paper beside it. It says "insert hyperlink" when you pass your cursor over it. Hope that helps.