A Soldier Responds To Media's Lies On Iraq
By Gordon Bishop (01/30/07)
This commentary is from an Army soldier in Iraq "who gets it, but most politicians and journalists do not."
Here’s what Specialist “Doc” Shurley of the 1st Calvary Division from Fort Hood, Texas, has to say as a soldier on the Iraqi warfront:
“I’m tired of hearing the media’s skewed version (on the war), the politicians squabbling over what they read in a report, and the average ill-informed American ranting about things he or she knows NOTHING about.
I’ve been over hear a couple of months now, and I’ve learned more about this country than a year’s worth of watching CNN. I’ve sat in mission briefs with Colonels, talked with village elders, had tea with Sheiks, and played with the kids. And I agree with the President: We need more troops and we need to take greater action.
There are three major factions here. The Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds. The Shiites are in the majority, but Saddam Hussein was a Sunni, so he kept the Shiites in check. Everyone hates the Kurds, who are Christian and 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 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. They largely do not concern themselves with the U.S. troops. The insurgents (terrorists) who battle the Coalition Forces are from outside the country. And the biggest problem down here isn’t the insurgents. It’s the politicians. The local politicians.
America’s “Iraq Study Group” advised 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 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 (recently). Their only source of income was to farm, as they could not go to the city to work for fear of violence. Many of the young men had already run off to join the militia for no other reason than to feed their families. They had no school or hospital near them, and the community was dying. 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 them, and we talked about the situation.
The people want peace. The Shiites kill the Sunnis because Shiites leader al-Sadr tells them to do so. The Sunnis fight back because they have no choice. They are glad Saddam is dead (Sunni or not), but do not want to replace him another dictator in a politician’s clothes which is what al-Sadr will become). And they especially don’t want Iran in charge. Many innocent Iraqis will die if this happens. There are the 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 our diplomatic community is that the (recently elected) Prime Minister finally realizes that his days are numbered. If al-Sadr remains, he will be kicked to the curb. So hopefully he is about to allow us to re-enter Sadr City, root out and destroy the enemy. A dramatic troop increase will allow us to do this. And the Horse People (the Army Calvary) are back and ready to finish what they started over two years ago.
If we leave now, it will be a failure for democracy. Iran will control Iraq and the end result will be more terrorist attacks on America. The American people don’t want soldiers dying over there, but it’s better than American civilians dying over here. DO NOT forget 9/11. They will do it again. The moment we loosen our grip on the noose, they will do it again.
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 al. The Iraqi government cannot do this on their own. The Iraqi forces are inadequate for this task. We are the only ones who can stop al-Sadr.
A three-cheers salute to Specialist Shurley! He represents America – not the liberal mainstream American media that wants the U.S. to surrender to the terrorists.
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