Iraq the Untold Story

Tgace

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The following is an email message sent to all First Marine Air Wing and Marine Wing, Support Squadron 171, from Lt. Col. Scot S. Seitz, Commanding Officer, on Monday, December 1, 2003. It's worth reading and sharing.

Marines and Sailors,

As we approach the end of the year, I think it is important to share a few thoughts about what you've accomplished directly, in some cases, and indirectly in many others. I am speaking about what the Bush Administration and what each of you has contributed by wearing the uniform. Because the fact that you wear the uniform contributes 100% to the capability of the nation to send a few onto the field to execute national policy. As you read about these achievements you are a part of, I would call your attention to two things:

1. This is good news that hasn't been fit to print or report on TV.

2. It is much easier to point out the errors a man makes when he makes the tough decisions, rarely is the positive as aggressively pursued.

Since President Bush declared an end to major combat on May 1, the first battalion of the new Iraqi Army has graduated and is on active duty. Over 60,000 Iraqis now provide security to their fellow citizens. Nearly all of Iraq's 400 courts are functioning. The Iraqi judiciary is fully independent. On Monday, October 6, power generation hit 4,518 megawatts; exceeding the prewar average.

All 22 universities and 43 technical institutes and colleges are open, as are nearly all primary and secondary schools. By October 1, Coalition forces had rehab-ed over1,500 schools-500 more than scheduled. Teachers earn from 12 to 25 times their former salaries. All 240 hospitals and more than 1,200 clinics are open. Doctor's salaries are at least eight times what they were under Saddam. Pharmaceutical distribution has gone from essentially nothing to 700 tons in May to a current total of 12,000 tons. The Coalition has helped administer over 22 million vaccinations to Iraq's children.

A Coalition program has cleared over 14,000 kilometers of Iraq's 27,000 kilometers of weed-choked canals which now irrigate tens of thousands of farms. This project has created jobs for more than 100,000 Iraqi men and women. We have restored over three-quarters of prewar telephone services and over two-thirds of the potable water production. There are 4,900 full-service telephone connections. We expect 50,000 connections by years-end.

The wheels of commerce are turning. From bicycles to satellite dishes to cars and trucks, businesses are coming to life in all major cities and towns. 95 percent of all prewar bank customers have service and first-time customers are opening accounts daily. Iraqi banks are making loans to finance businesses. The central bank is fully independent. Iraq has one of the world's most growth-oriented investment and banking laws.

Iraq has a single, unified currency for the first time in 15 years. Satellite TV dishes are legal. Foreign journalists aren't on 10-day visas paying mandatory and extortionate fees to the Ministry of Information for "minders" and other government spies.

There is no Ministry of Information.

There are more than 170 newspapers. You can buy satellite dishes on what seems like every street corner. Foreign journalists (and everyone else) are free to come and go.

A nation that had not one single element-legislative, judicial or executive-of a representative government, now does. In Baghdad alone, residents have selected 88 advisory councils. Baghdad's first democratic transfer of power in 35 years happened when the city council elected its new chairman.

Today in Iraq, chambers of commerce, business, school and professional organizations are electing their leaders all over the country. 25 ministers, selected by the most representative governing body in Iraq's history, run the day-to-day business of government.

The Iraqi government regularly participates in international events. Since July, the Iraqi government has been represented in over two dozen international meetings, including those of the UN General Assembly, the Arab League, the World Bank and IMF and, today, the Islamic Conference Summit.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs today announced that it is reopening over 30 Iraqi embassies around the world. Shia religious festivals that were all but banned, aren't.

For the first time in 35 years, in Karbala, thousands of Shiites celebrate the pilgrimage of the 12th Imam. The Coalition has completed over 13,000 reconstruction projects, large and small, as part of a strategic plan for the reconstruction of Iraq. Uday and Qusay are dead-and no longer feeding innocent Iraqis to the zoo lions, raping the young daughters of local leaders to force cooperation, torturing Iraq's soccer players for losing games, or murdering critics.

Children aren't imprisoned or murdered when their parents disagree with the government.

Political opponents aren't imprisoned, tortured, executed, maimed, or are forced to watch their families die for disagreeing with Saddam. Millions of longsuffering Iraqis no longer live in perpetual terror. Saudis will hold municipal elections. Qatar is reforming education to give more choices to parents. Jordan is accelerating market economic reforms.

The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded for the first time to an Iranian, a Muslim woman who speaks out with courage for human rights, for democracy and for peace.

Saddam is gone. Iraq is free. President Bush has not faltered or failed. Yet, little or none of this information has been published by the Press Corps that prides itself on bringing you all the news that's important.

Iraq under U.S. led control has come further in six months than Germany did in seven years or Japan did in nine years following WWII. Military deaths from fanatic Nazi's and Japanese numbered in the thousands and continued for over three years after WWII victory was declared. It took the US over four months to clear away the twin tower debris, let alone attempt to build something else in its place.

Taking everything into consideration, even the unfortunate loss of our brothers and sisters in this conflict, do you think anyone else in the world could have accomplished as much as the United States and the Bush administration in so short a period of time?

These are things worth writing about. Get the word out. Write to someone you think may be able to influence our Congress or the press to tell the story.

Above all, be proud that you are a part of this historical precedent.

God bless you all and have a great Holiday.

Semper Fidelis, Lt. Col. Scot S. Seitz
 
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Tgace

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No One Asked Us

by Stan Coerr

George Bush coalesced American support behind invading Iraq, I am told, using two arguments: Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and the capability to deliver them, and Iraq was a supporter of Al-Qaeda terrorism, and may have been involved in the attacks of 9/11. Vicious words and gratuitous finger-pointing keep falling back on these points, as people insist that "we" were misled into what started as a dynamic liberation and has become a bloody counterinsurgency. Watching politicians declaim and hearing television experts expound on why we went to war and on their opinions of those running the White House and Defense Department, I have one question. When is someone going to ask the guys who were there?

What about the opinions of those whose lives were on the line, massed on the Iraq-Kuwait border beginning in February of last year? I don't know how President Bush got the country behind him, because at the time I was living in a hole in the dirt in northern Kuwait. Why have I not heard a word from anyone who actually carried a rifle or flew a plane into bad guy country last year, and who has since had to deal with the ugly aftermath of a violent liberation? What about the guys who had the most to lose? What do they think about all this?

I was there. I am one of those guys who fought the war and helped keep the peace. I am a Major in the Marine Reserves, and during the war I was the senior American attached to the 1 Royal Irish Battlegroup, a rifle battalion of the British Army. I was commander of five U.S. Marine air/naval gunfire liaison teams, as well as the liaison officer between U.S. Marines and British Army forces. I was activated on January 14, 2003, and 17 days later I and my Marines were standing in Kuwait with all of our gear, ready to go to war.

I majored in Political Science at Duke, and I graduated with a Masters degree in government from the Kennedy School at Harvard. I understand realpolitik, geopolitical jujitsu, economics, and the reality of the Arab world. I know the tension between the White House, the UN, Langley, and Foggy Bottom. One of my grandfathers was a two-star Navy admiral; my other grandfather was an ambassador. I am not a pushover, blindly following whoever is in charge, and I don't kid myself that I live in a perfect world. But the war made sense then, and the occupation makes sense now.

As dawn broke on March 22, 2003, I became part of one of the largest and fastest land movements in the history of war. I went across the border alongside my brothers in the Royal Irish, following the 5th Marine Regiment from Camp Pendleton as they swept through the Ramaylah oil fields. I was one those guys you saw on TV every night ? filthy, hot, exhausted. I think the NRA and their right-to-bear-arms mantra is a joke, but by God I was carrying a loaded rifle, a loaded pistol and a knife on my body at all times. My feet rested on sandbags on the floor of my Humvee, there to protect me from the blast of a land mines or IED.

I killed many Iraqi soldiers, as they tried to kill me and my Marines. I did it with a radio, directing air-strikes and artillery, in concert with my British artillery officer counterpart, in combat along the Hamas Canal in southern Iraq. I saw, up close, everything the rest of you see in the newspapers: dead bodies, parts of dead bodies, helmets with bullet holes through them, handcuffed POWs sitting in the sand, oil well fires with flames reaching 100 feet into the air and a roar you could hear from over a mile away.

I stood on the bloody sand where Marine Second Lieutenant Therrel Childers was the first American killed on the ground. I pointed a loaded weapon at another man for the first time in my life. I did what I had spent 14 years training to do, and my Marines -- your Marines -- performed so well it still brings tears to my eyes to think about it. I was proud of what we did then, and I am proud of it now.

Along with the violence, I saw many things that lifted my heart. I saw thousands of Iraqis in cities like Qurnah and Medinah -- men, women, children, grandparents carrying babies -- running into the streets at the sight of the first Westerners to enter their streets. I saw them screaming, crying, waving, cheering. They ran from their homes at the sound of our Humvee tires roaring in from the south, bringing bread and tea and cigarettes and photos of their children. They chattered at us in Arabic, and we spoke to them in English, and neither understood the other. The entire time I was in Iraq, I had one impression from the civilians I met: Thank God, finally someone has arrived with bigger men and bigger guns to be, at last, on our side.

Let there be no mistake, those of you who don't believe in this war: the Ba'ath regime were the Nazis of the second half of the 20th century. I saw what the murderous, brutal regime of Saddam Hussein wrought on that country through his party and their Fedayeen henchmen. They raped, murdered, tortured, extorted, and terrorized those in that country for 35 years. There are mass graves throughout Iraq only now being discovered. 1st Battalion, 5th Marines, out of Camp Pendleton, liberated a prison in Iraq populated entirely by children. The Ba'athists brutalized the weakest among them, and killed the strongest. I saw in the eyes of the people how a generation of fear reflects in the human soul.

The Ba'ath Party, like the Nazis before them, kept power by spreading out, placing their officials in every city and every village to keep the people under their boot. Everywhere we went we found rifles, ammunition, RPG rounds, mortar shells, rocket launchers, and artillery. When we took over the southern city of Ramaylah, our battalion commander tore down the Ba'ath signs and commandeered the former regime headquarters in town (which, by the way, was 20 feet from the local school). My commander himself took over the office of the local Ba'ath leader, and in opening the desk of that thug found a set of brass knuckles and a gun. These are the people who are now in prison, and that is where they deserve to be.

The analogy is simple. For years, you have watched the same large, violent man come home every night, and you have listened to his yelling and the crying and the screams of children and the noise of breaking glass, and you have always known that he was beating his wife and his children. Everyone on the block has known it. You ask, cajole, threaten, and beg him to stop, on behalf of the rest of the neighborhood. Nothing works. After listening to it for 13 years, you finally gather up the biggest, meanest guys you can find, you go over to his house, and you kick the door down. You punch him in the face and drag him away. The house is a mess, the family poor and abused? but now there is hope. You did the right thing.

I can speak with authority on the opinions of both British and American infantry in that place and at that time. Let me make this clear: at no time did anyone say or imply to any of us that we were invading Iraq to rid the country of weapons of mass destruction, nor were we there to avenge 9/11. We knew we were there for one reason: to rid the world of a tyrant, and to give Iraq back to Iraqis.

None of us had even heard those arguments for going to war until we returned, and we still don't understand the confusion. To us, it was simple. The world needed to be rid of a man who committed mass murder of an entire people, and our country was the only one that could project that much power that far and with that kind of precision. We don't make policy decisions: we carry them out. And none of us had the slightest doubt about how right and good our actions were.

The war was the right thing to do then, and in hindsight it was still the right thing to do. We can't overthrow every murderous tyrant in the world, but when we can, we should. Take it from someone who was there, and who stood to lose everything. We must, and will, stay the course. We owe it to the Iraqis, and to the world.

*********
Stan Coerr is a Super-Cobra attack helicopter pilot and Forward Air Controller, and was recently selected for Lieutenant Colonel in the Marine Corps Reserve. He lives in San Diego, and can be reached at [email protected]
 

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IRAQ: Interesting Casualty Rate News
September 5, 2004: American combat losses continue at a historically low level. Since March, 2003, American troops have suffered 7,900 casualties (including 976 dead.) This is an unprecedented killed to wounded ratio of 1:8. In past wars, the ration had been 1:4 or 1:5. American combat deaths over the Summer were 42 in June, 54 in July and 66 in August. There are the equivalent of three American combat divisions in Iraq, each running several hundred patrols and other combat operations each day. Never have combat divisions, operating in hostile territory, kept their casualties this low. The news media, concentrating on any losses as the story have generally missed the historical significance of the low casualties. The American armed forces have developed new equipment, weapons and tactics that have transformed combat operations in an unprecedented way. This is recognized within the military, but is generally ignored, or misunderstood, by the general media.


How Many American Troops Have Died in War?
American War casulties compared.
- Note, this listing is for KIA. Wounded, MIA, etc are much higher.

American Revolution 25,324
* Bunker Hill cost 400 American lives

War of 1812 2,260

Mexican War 13,283

Civil War
Union - 498,332
Confederacy - 364,821
* Antietam cost 5,000+ lives on both sides: bloodiest day in American history

Spanish-American War 2,446

World War I 116,516
* Battle of Somme cost 19,240 British lives on a single day (total British casualties that day: 57,470)

World War II 405,399
Other Losses:
- Soviet: 10,000,000
- German: 3,500,000
- Japan: 1,500,000
- British: 280,000
- Canadian: 39,300
* At Dunkirk the British suffered 68,000 casualties

Korean War 54,246

Vietnam War 56,244

Panama Invasion 23

Gulf War (1991) 148

Iraq War (2003-4) 976
 

Bob Hubbard

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Each person that enlists hopefully understands the risk. I was at a farewell party this afternoon for a friend, who begins his training on Thursday. He was the senior instructor at one of my local Kenpo schools. Another instructor there has already left, and anothers daughter is currently in Iraq. A former instructor was most recently in Afghanastan. My girlfriend teaches at that school, so I know these people.

Each loss is tragic, and should never be taken lightly, not the sacrifices of those who wear the uniform ever minimized.

I take heart in knowing though that my friends have the -best- chance they have every had historically in coming home alive.

Too often we focus on the negative.
"Should we have gone", "Why did we go", etc.
We don't hear the other side.
The bravery. The sacrifice. The preparation.
Personally, I'd like to read more. About the troops, by the troops.
Because, pro or con, they deserve our support.
Because they do what we can not, or will not.
Because they are people too.

:asian:
 

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Tgace said:
The following is an email message sent to all First Marine Air Wing and Marine Wing, Support Squadron 171, from Lt. Col. Scot S. Seitz, Commanding Officer, on Monday, December 1, 2003. It's worth reading and sharing.

Marines and Sailors,

As we approach the end of the year, I think it is important to share a few thoughts about what you've accomplished directly, in some cases, and indirectly in many others. I am speaking about what the Bush Administration and what each of you has contributed by wearing the uniform. Because the fact that you wear the uniform contributes 100% to the capability of the nation to send a few onto the field to execute national policy. As you read about these achievements you are a part of, I would call your attention to two things:

1. This is good news that hasn't been fit to print or report on TV.

2. It is much easier to point out the errors a man makes when he makes the tough decisions, rarely is the positive as aggressively pursued.

Since President Bush declared an end to major combat on May 1, the first battalion of the new Iraqi Army has graduated and is on active duty. Over 60,000 Iraqis now provide security to their fellow citizens. Nearly all of Iraq's 400 courts are functioning. The Iraqi judiciary is fully independent. On Monday, October 6, power generation hit 4,518 megawatts; exceeding the prewar average.

All 22 universities and 43 technical institutes and colleges are open, as are nearly all primary and secondary schools. By October 1, Coalition forces had rehab-ed over1,500 schools-500 more than scheduled. Teachers earn from 12 to 25 times their former salaries. All 240 hospitals and more than 1,200 clinics are open. Doctor's salaries are at least eight times what they were under Saddam. Pharmaceutical distribution has gone from essentially nothing to 700 tons in May to a current total of 12,000 tons. The Coalition has helped administer over 22 million vaccinations to Iraq's children.

A Coalition program has cleared over 14,000 kilometers of Iraq's 27,000 kilometers of weed-choked canals which now irrigate tens of thousands of farms. This project has created jobs for more than 100,000 Iraqi men and women. We have restored over three-quarters of prewar telephone services and over two-thirds of the potable water production. There are 4,900 full-service telephone connections. We expect 50,000 connections by years-end.

The wheels of commerce are turning. From bicycles to satellite dishes to cars and trucks, businesses are coming to life in all major cities and towns. 95 percent of all prewar bank customers have service and first-time customers are opening accounts daily. Iraqi banks are making loans to finance businesses. The central bank is fully independent. Iraq has one of the world's most growth-oriented investment and banking laws.

Iraq has a single, unified currency for the first time in 15 years. Satellite TV dishes are legal. Foreign journalists aren't on 10-day visas paying mandatory and extortionate fees to the Ministry of Information for "minders" and other government spies.

There is no Ministry of Information.

There are more than 170 newspapers. You can buy satellite dishes on what seems like every street corner. Foreign journalists (and everyone else) are free to come and go.

A nation that had not one single element-legislative, judicial or executive-of a representative government, now does. In Baghdad alone, residents have selected 88 advisory councils. Baghdad's first democratic transfer of power in 35 years happened when the city council elected its new chairman.

Today in Iraq, chambers of commerce, business, school and professional organizations are electing their leaders all over the country. 25 ministers, selected by the most representative governing body in Iraq's history, run the day-to-day business of government.

The Iraqi government regularly participates in international events. Since July, the Iraqi government has been represented in over two dozen international meetings, including those of the UN General Assembly, the Arab League, the World Bank and IMF and, today, the Islamic Conference Summit.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs today announced that it is reopening over 30 Iraqi embassies around the world. Shia religious festivals that were all but banned, aren't.

For the first time in 35 years, in Karbala, thousands of Shiites celebrate the pilgrimage of the 12th Imam. The Coalition has completed over 13,000 reconstruction projects, large and small, as part of a strategic plan for the reconstruction of Iraq. Uday and Qusay are dead-and no longer feeding innocent Iraqis to the zoo lions, raping the young daughters of local leaders to force cooperation, torturing Iraq's soccer players for losing games, or murdering critics.

Children aren't imprisoned or murdered when their parents disagree with the government.

Political opponents aren't imprisoned, tortured, executed, maimed, or are forced to watch their families die for disagreeing with Saddam. Millions of longsuffering Iraqis no longer live in perpetual terror. Saudis will hold municipal elections. Qatar is reforming education to give more choices to parents. Jordan is accelerating market economic reforms.

The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded for the first time to an Iranian, a Muslim woman who speaks out with courage for human rights, for democracy and for peace.

Saddam is gone. Iraq is free. President Bush has not faltered or failed. Yet, little or none of this information has been published by the Press Corps that prides itself on bringing you all the news that's important.

Iraq under U.S. led control has come further in six months than Germany did in seven years or Japan did in nine years following WWII. Military deaths from fanatic Nazi's and Japanese numbered in the thousands and continued for over three years after WWII victory was declared. It took the US over four months to clear away the twin tower debris, let alone attempt to build something else in its place.

Taking everything into consideration, even the unfortunate loss of our brothers and sisters in this conflict, do you think anyone else in the world could have accomplished as much as the United States and the Bush administration in so short a period of time?

These are things worth writing about. Get the word out. Write to someone you think may be able to influence our Congress or the press to tell the story.

Above all, be proud that you are a part of this historical precedent.

God bless you all and have a great Holiday.

Semper Fidelis, Lt. Col. Scot S. Seitz
Department of Defense
Directive
Number 1344.10

Paragraph 4 - Policy
It is DoD policy to encourage members of the Armed Forces (hereafter referred to as "members") to carry out the obligations of citizenship. While on active duty, however, members are prohibited from engaging in certain political activities. The following DoD policy shall apply:
* 4.1.2. A member on active duty shall not:
* * 4.1.2.1. Use his or her official authority or influence for interfering with an election; affecting the course or outcome of an election; soliciting votes for a particular candidate or issue; or requiring or soliciting political contributions from others.
 
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Tgace

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A Frontline View From Iraq

by GYSgt Jon (Mongo) Carpenter USMC Reserve, LVMPD TAC

Staff.

May 27, 2004

I have been asked several times through e-mails about what I thought of the situation here and what I think might work over here. Truthfully, I think we are on the right track here right now and MajGen Mattis is doing an excellent job of restoring stabilization to this area. Trying to understand this country is like trying to understand a Paradox. You can see the different sides of the problems but can't get a good handle on the solution to solve the problems here. The biggest problem here is still the radical side of the Islamic world here. They truly hate America, Americans, and anything we do here is considered an attack on Islam. The rest of the Iraqi people here really do want us here and like what we are doing for them.

Almost all of the Iraqis I have spoken to, say they want us to stay for several years until the restoration is well on its way and the radical terrorists and criminals are dealt with. The Iraqi Police Officers we are training say the same thing. During our transition of authority and responsibility here at the Academy, they keep asking us to stay and keep teaching the students, and not to turn everything over to the Iraqi Police administration. I then explain that this is their country and it is their responsibility to run their own institutions. They say they agree with this, but still want us to stay and continue teaching, providing security, leadership and counsel.

This is part of the paradox here. The vast majority of the people want us here to protect them from the criminals, to help them restore their infrastructure, provide training for the modern equipment we are installing, and to help them get a new government installed. But they don't want us to stay here forever. Some are afraid of the idea of "Freedom". Their definition of freedom means freedom to go against Islam, which calls for strict adherence to the Koran and to the instructions of the Mullahs. They see "freedom" as something that will allow their children the opportunity to chose not to follow Islam, or to adopt western values. It also means freedom for women to have equality, or to hold leadership positions, which most Iraqi men are firmly against. At the Academy here in Ar Ramadi, we have two female interpreters working with us doing interviews and teaching classes to male Police Officers. This has not caused many problems with the students, but has caused some consternation on the part of the male interpreters, who do not like that females are getting paid they same as they are and are teaching adult men in an authority situation. We have discussed this several times, and they continue to resist treating the women as equals and respecting them for their skills and abilities, even though the female's translation skills are at least as good as the male interpreters.

Another paradoxical problem is the culture of alliances here. During the previous regime and actually most of Iraq's history, forming alliances was the only way to ensure some level of safety for your family. By aligning with larger tribes, you could garner protection from criminals and the like, and could use the influence of the tribal leaders to ensure fairness in business dealings and assistance getting your sons or relatives good jobs etc. But just like the mafia or gangs in America, this protection comes with a price. You must agree to the authority and leadership of the tribal leaders, and you must first try and direct business and contracts through the tribe first. Today, the alliances are still strong and the tribal leaders are not much interesting in giving up the power, privilege and status they have attained. What we see as corruption and nepotism, etc, they see as standard operating procedure. If I need a contract with a company to provide shower water to the academy students, the person I send to find that contract, will at first only bring family members, friends or someone from their tribe or a friendly tribe to me to form a contract for services. They do not see any problem with this. They feel this is the way it should be, and they even suggest that it is the will of God, (Insha allah) that the contract was made available to them. We recently changed vendors supplying food for the academy students. Since the contract provides 3 meals a day for between 90 and 300 students, it is a fairly lucrative contract. Thus, when the tribal leader of the vendor we replaced found out about the loss of contract, he contacted a friendly Police General and told him to contact our Academy Commandant, an Iraqi Colonel, to have him reinstate the contract with his vendor. The Colonel here refused, but also asked us to ensure everyone knew that this was a Marine decision and not a decision made by him, so as not to cause bad blood between the tribes.

Another problem in the south is that the Socialist Baath party took away a lot of the land and houses from Shiites they didn't like for whatever reason. Now, some of these displaced people, many of whom had to run to Iran to escape persecution would like to have their property back. But, some other family may have been given this property by the previous regime and have been living there for quite awhile and feel the property belongs to them. This has actually happed though out Iraq with the Baath party taking from one citizen and giving to another person of their chosing. Now that the Baath party has been eradicated, who actually is entitled to these lands or properties?

Another big problem is the Arab media here, which has big problems with facts. Just like the Al Jazeera reporter who stood proclaiming Iraq was winning the war as Marines rolled into Baghdad, they still misrepresent the situation over here. The American media also has had its issues with facts also. They will go out of their way to find the Iraqi person who doesn't like the coalition and show him as if he speaks for all Iraqis. When we bombed that supposed "wedding Party" last week on the western Iraq border on a Wednesday, the media failed to mention that a vast majority of Iraqis believe that weddings and especially the wedding party should be held on Thursdays. Its part of their culture. This adds to the mounting evidence that this was not a wedding party but probably a meeting of terrorists and criminals who also eat and throw parties. I read another article by a New York Times reporter who compared the term "Haji", which some soldiers have used when referring to an Iraqi person, to the term "gook" used as a derogative in Viet Nam. Again this is not the case. I have asked several Iraqis, including Police Officers and interpreters who have said they feel honored to be called a "Haji" because it refers to some who has made or is trying to make the pilgrimage to Mecca. Again, it seems that trying to put down the military is more important than getting the facts straight. Maybe the worst example was how they reported the end of the re-stabilization of Fallujah. The mission was not designed, nor was it our intention to attack and conquer Fallujah. Had we intended that we could have easily destroyed and killed everyone in that city. But, that is not our mission in Iraq. But when the media says we were forced to stop the siege on Fallujah, they fail to recognize that we were only going after the criminals and foreign terrorists there. When we got the majority of them, the rest went to the leaders and asked for a cease-fire. We won that decisively with minimal innocent casualties. The same is true in Najaf. Only last week the media was saying Al-Sadr was putting up good resistance and had the majority of the people behind him. Again, we could have easily wiped him out, but we are trying not to hurt innocent civilians nor damage the shrines and Mosques they are hiding in. Thus it takes a little longer and may look like we are not decisively conquering a man with a limited Militia. But it is more important to keep the hearts and minds of the civilian population we are trying to rescue.

The Marines, Sailors and Soldiers I work with are all still highly motivated to accomplish this mission. We are happy to serve our Commander-in-Chief, President George W. Bush. Yes, we would like to be home with our families, but we know we are doing something important for America and for the world.

As for me and my fellow Iraqi Police Liaison team, we continue to thank you all for your prayers and support for us over here.

Jon
 
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Letter to the Legion from the Front

Dear Post 45,

I caught wind of and read the recent news articles being circulated back there in the states. I figured I could clarify some things for you. As usual the news media has blown some things way out of proportion. The countryside is getting safer by the day despite all the attacks you are hearing about. Imagine every shooting incident or robbery committed in L.A. or Portland being blown way out of proportion.

This is a country where most of the Saddam Hussein thugs are being chased around like scared rabbits by Coalition forces. It is literally open season on them! We hunt them down like animals. There were about a million soldiers in the Iraqi army at the beginning of hostilities and most of them took off before we attacked. There are some that were very loyal to Saddam that are trying to sneak around and take pot shots at us. We are cleaning them up pretty fast.

There are also thugs from other countries running around, like Iran and Syria. Well, the Iraqis hate these thugs as much as we do. So the Iraqi people are hunting them down too! I can honestly say 98% of the population of Iraq love us and they do not want us to leave...ever! They say as long as we are here they feel safe.

What is going on with the countries infrastructure? Everything is going well! The railroad is running again! The railroad has not run since 1991. In the city of Hillah, the power stays on 24 hours a day and it has more power than prior to the war. Some Iraqis are worried about getting too much food from the coalition because they don't have enough room in their homes to store it. The markets are open. The Seabees have rebuilt all of the schools and put in furniture and chalkboards. The kids used to sit on the floor! Now they have nice desks to sit at. Commerce is running. New money is being printed. The Iraqi Dinar has stabilized and is now increasing in value.

Most of the Iraqi men want to buy Chevy pickups (I told them a Dodge Ram with a Cummins Diesel is better Ha Ha). They pretty much want any vehicle made by General Motors. The highways and bridges are being repaired. In the Universities, the girls have tossed their deshakas (long black dresses with head and face coverings) and are now wearing western style clothes and even some are wearing short sleeves. The favorite drink is Pepsi, followed by Coke. They want us to bring them any and everything American. Any item made in America or that is from America is worth money over here.

The newspapers and television paint a picture of doom and gloom and that we are having major problems over here. That is just not the case. The Iraqis have a saying about the situation over here "Every day is better than the day before". Life is flowing back in to this country and it is fun to watch and I am so glad I got to watch it happen. Some days watching the Iraqi people is like watching the faces of little kids on Christmas Day. Many of them are walking around in a daze wondering what to do with their freedom.

They are starting businesses everywhere. They want to build shopping malls and factories, they want McDonalds and Jack in the Box and Pizza Hut. Of course anything American Fast Food, because of the stories the troops are telling them. We give them our old newspapers and magazines that you've been sending us and they are absolutely flabbergasted when they read them! They want us to keep bringing them. They read every single page even the advertisements over and over! This would be a good time for media to get their magazines going over here because the Iraqis just love them.

So in short you see I will give you the straight scoop and keep you informed of what is up over here. I will sign off for now and send this along. Thanks again to all of you for your support. My mailing address has changed. The older one is no longer working. I will tell you the new one as soon as we get it.

Senior Chief Art Messer
22 Naval Construction Regiment (Forward) Task Force Charlie
U. S. Navy Seabees
"With Compassion For Others, We Build, We Fight, For Peace With Freedom"
 
OP
Tgace

Tgace

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Kaith Rustaz said:
IRAQ: Interesting Casualty Rate News
September 5, 2004: American combat losses continue at a historically low level. Since March, 2003, American troops have suffered 7,900 casualties (including 976 dead.) This is an unprecedented killed to wounded ratio of 1:8. In past wars, the ration had been 1:4 or 1:5. American combat deaths over the Summer were 42 in June, 54 in July and 66 in August. There are the equivalent of three American combat divisions in Iraq, each running several hundred patrols and other combat operations each day. Never have combat divisions, operating in hostile territory, kept their casualties this low. The news media, concentrating on any losses as the story have generally missed the historical significance of the low casualties. The American armed forces have developed new equipment, weapons and tactics that have transformed combat operations in an unprecedented way. This is recognized within the military, but is generally ignored, or misunderstood, by the general media.
Excellent point Bob. I found a pertinent article regarding that....

Why American Infantry Casualties Were so Low
by James Dunnigan
April 14, 2003




The incredibly low coalition casualties in Iraq were the result of several factors. The two major ones were new and improved body armor, and realistic combat training.

The body armor innovation is the first truly rifle bullet proof vest. This is called the Interceptor Vest, and after the war is over and all of the vests used can be examined for hits, it will probably be discovered that many (perhaps over a hundred) deaths were prevented because the vest stopped a high speed rifle bullet. When a bullet hits a vest, the multiple layers of super strong Kevlar cloth, and the ceramic plates, are deformed in stopping the bullet. The soldier knows he is hit, as it feels something like getting hit in the body by a padded sledgehammer. It often knocks the wind out of the victim, sometimes cracks a rib and almost always leaves a bruise behind. But in combat, many troops recover quickly and get back into the fight. But for several days they will be nursing that bruise. In addition to giving protection, the vest also enables a soldier to act a little bolder without feeling suicidal. This gives well trained troops an edge, as they can move and position themselves more efficiently in combat.

But this only works because of another advantage. For two decades, American infantry have been practicing firefight drills using a realistic method of simulating rifle and machine-gun fire. The military calls it MILES ((Multiple Integrated Laser Engagement System), but it's basically laser tag. Each rifle and machine-gun is equipped with a laser light device. When the soldier pulls the trigger, the gun still goes "bang" (blanks are used). But a coded laser light also goes downrange as well. If another soldier is in the way, his laser light detectors will sense the shooters laser and the soldier in question will hear a buzzer go off, indicating he is hit. The range of the lasers for rifles, machine-gun, anti-tank missiles and tank guns are all set realistically, as is the damage they cause. So a rifle can't take out a tank. This revolutionized infantry training, because now new troops quickly learned to take cover. Instructors who are combat veterans have always struggled to get this extremely important point across to their trainees. With MILES, the point was made quickly. The troops were young and competitive and didn't like getting "shot." They soon became very adept at moving around on the battlefield without giving the other guy a clear shot. As the Iraqis quickly discovered, this is a deadly advantage for the guy who has it. The Interceptor vests cost about $1700 each and weigh 16 pounds. The MILES systems, per soldier, are a lot cheaper. But the net effect is to reduce friendly casualties enormously. Most current infantry are unaware of how much this has changed the way American infantry fight. They take for grated the realistic MILES based infantry exercises, which have been around since the 1980s. The Interceptor vests were introduced in the 1990s.


(BTW: Hope your friends make it home safe.)

:asian:

Tom
 

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