I recently spoke with a friend of mine that I ran into at TJ Max. She said that she was intending on voting republican in the next election and that she supported the war because she believed if they weren’t fighting over there, then they would be attacking us in the US. I don’t really believe that. I think that if they wanted to bomb us over here, then that is exactly what they would do. Just our presence over in Iraq isn’t going to stop the terrorists from crashing a plane into a U.S. building if that is what they want to do. I guess that the strategy is supposed to be: we bring stability to the region and then the terrorists won’t have any power to attack us. I guess I don’t really know… Anyways, I thought I would post another comment that I got in a email from a soldier I know over in Iraq right now. I hope everyone finds his viewpoint as interesting as I do.
We are fighting in the wrong places to stop the war on terrorism.
Iraq was not a major threat to us. We took 2 major divisions of the
Army and stomped its ass into the dirt, don’t get me wrong it was two
of the more elite divisions the army has but still, we used minimal
force to destroy our enemies. To me that does not yell out major
threat to the United States. Afganistan was needed, I will admit
that, Iraq was not in the least bit needed.
A small addition to what I wrote above. While the things that had happened in Iraq were terrible and at first the people greated us warmly here when we removed Saddam from power that we could have used our might in different places. The war in Iraq was never about the people here. That was an after thought once the WMD rumors were found to be false. I have met many Iraqis and Kurdish, for the most part they are very nice people, during my first tour here in 2004 they were much happier that we were here then they are now in 2008. They believe we have worn out our welcome here, and in some ways I don’t blame them for believing that.
We are faced with an unknown enemy here. You do not know if that kind old man who is walking up to you is there to shake your hand and thank you, or to blow you up. This goes for the men, women and yes even children of Iraq. The Jihadist do not care who they kill either, as long as they can kill one of us. They killed seven children to kill one Soldier a couple years back. They are also cowards. They know they can not fight us face to face so they set roadside bombs to attempt to kill us. I had a close friend lose a leg this year to one of those roadside bombs. A bomb with parts smuggled in from Iran. When that happened, I relised that I care even less for this act of revenge by our current president then I did prior.
I am proud to be a Soldier. In one form or another I have served my country for over 10 years now. For anyone who knew me in Highschool this is probably a shock, I was the little computer geek back then. I do not mind fighting for my country and risking dying for it as well. but I do not want to risk my life for something I do not believe in, nor do alot of my fellow comrades. I have been through things here that would make most peoples skin crawl. I have been hit with an IED in 2005, I have had mortars fly over my head and land 100m from me in 2005, I have been shot at with AK 47 in both deployments, and this time around I watched 2 of the gunners shot and killed by our gun trucks, I have had an RPG fly behind my truck, I have seen two people who blew themselves us (and across the road) while setting an IED, I have shot at people, detained a couple people as well.
Well that is enough of me venting and running on.
Two Time Iraq Vet
SGT Larry K.