Goodbye to Iraq - A soldier Email

[AVID]

My wife and I received this email this morning from her brother, finally coming home.

Unedited except for names.

"Well, Here I sit two hours from computer cutoff. I wanted you all to know that despite my lack of writing I appreciated all you did and the great encouragement you gave. I just can't explain this experience but I would consider it a personal favor if you would take the time to really see this beyond the news- many people have died. One personal friend (XXXX)and some acquaintances. What you really need to see are the wounded. I helped put a soldier on a stretcher two days ago after a rocket attack. He is paralyzed now-five days from going home. XXX and I stood there as a young CPT had just shot himself and watched his last breath. The place is bad really bad. It's not getting better. Don't blame us (maybe our naivety and arrogance) but blame a culture that has translated as many books in one thousand years as Spain has translated in one year. These people live in a place only they can get out of. I have lived all over the Middle East and I tell you this culture is the root and we are foolish to think we can make them like us. I tried to pass on one thing to them. I am here to give my life for your freedom while preserving mine own. Are you willing to do the same? I am afraid the answer is no and until they are willing to sacrifice then it will never get better. They would rather live in suffering and complain. Enough - I am coming home.


XXXX - We heard more from you lately and it was very special thank you it was really nice. XXX - you wrote that great mail that stated if I needed to talk...Sometimes I should have. XXX - great pictures I really love all the girls what fun I hope to see you in XXXX later this month. Wish my gang could join. I really like all that stuff.
XXX -my flowers were so nice you gave us life in this war devastation and great e-mails. (I will tell you about your friends unit later)


 


I love you all..


 


XXXXX

[donsu]

1. kick

nt

[Goldmund]

2. What does this mean?

"Don't blame us (maybe our naivety and arrogance) but blame a culture that has translated as many books in one thousand years as Spain has translated in one year."

[el_gato]

3. It means to him the West is blameless

Nevermind the history behind western support for dictators in the middle east for the last 100 years. I hope when this kid gets home he starts to really look at the history of the middle east.

[Goldmund]

6. It also smells of ubermenschen-type superiority complex.

[frankly_fedup2]

9. What, his email? Or . . .

his experience there? The "clans" are the Iraqis . . .not our troops. I misunderstood you, right?

[Goldmund]

12. What clans?

And I meant his email, yes. The whole "this war is wrong because we can't teach these apes democracy since they haven't translated any books" sentiment.

[frankly_fedup2]

8. The last 100 years has not caused all of this. These people

have been this way since the beginning of civilization. How can we even dare to think we could change them.

Also, I'm sure once this soldier comes home, the last thing he would want right now is to "really look at the history of the middle east."

His first-hand experience speaks louder to me than any history book ever has.

I'm glad your brother is coming home and he will be safe. Now if we could only get the rest home.

[DNCnotDLC]

11. Any recommended books?

Just curious. Getting famliar with the topic myself.

[frankly_fedup2]

7. I would interpret it as these people are still living

in the way they have always lived. They want no progress. They feel it is evil and are taught progress is evil. That is why the U.S. is so evil to them.

We will never change them. They don't even have a clue as to a democracy. They don't want it no matter how much Bush wants to shove it down their throats. The only way we can change their beliefs is to totally destroy them and their culture. I cannot believe we would do that.

They have their own rule of law (as we have seen). That is the way it was 1400 years ago and that is how it will always be. They do not want to know anything but their Koran and they are all religious zealots, just some more extreme in their beliefs and interpretation of their Koran.

They still live in tribes and have tribal leaders. Our press can call some of them "warlords"; however, these people consider their clerics the closest thing they have to the profit Mohamed and, therefore, Allah.

They believe in an eye for an eye x7. That means if you hurt one of their family members in any way, they have the right for SEVEN generations to do the same to yours. That explains it all. They will always be fighting and killing each other. It will never end. Now, it's never going to end for us because of Bush. He opened the gates of Hell and threw our young men and women in and now won't let them leave. He just wanted protection for Halliburton, Bechtel, and Kellogg. Who better than send all of our sons and daughters (of course, not his), and let the taxpayers pay for it all.

The reported that over 2 billion dollars is missing. Now where could that have went?????

This war is the endless war. It will never end; whether we fight it there or on our own homeland. Eventually, they will bring it here. Are you ready????

[Nadienne]

10. I think you underestimate them.

I think they do know what democracy means. They want to govern themselves; that's democracy. Bush & Co doesn't want them to govern themselves; if they do that, they'll stand up to US interests. US interests - especially Bush & Co interests - go against their own interests. That's why Bush & Co are establishing a puppet government. And I think they know this. This is what they are fighting against. They are fighting for real democracy and against sham democracy.

[frankly_fedup2]

15. Well, at least today on CNN I saw where the Iraqi police . . .

were being attacked by insurgents and were able to handle it "mostly" themselves.

They did call in for reinforcements (our troops), but none of our troops were killed.

I did not mean these people are stupid . . . far from it. I meant they have a way through their beliefs to live and anything progressive is evil to their religious beliefs.

Maybe they are not so wrong regarding progress; however, I think we have more respect for human life, whereas they have absolutely no doubt that their reward is after this life. I wish I could find that belief. I have never been able to find that faith in myself.

[progressivebydesign]

18. Hmmm.. he must have been stationed in an outpost..

The big cities of Iraq are quite progressive and middle class. They have universities, symphonies, department stores, bookstores, etc. The Iraq he writes of, bears no resemblance to the modern parts of the country... there was a justification of attacking the Iraqis early on, when the Bushies led them to believe that Iraq was a desolate place consisting of camels and tents.

I'm glad he's coming home. His clumsy attempt to explain why things aren't going well, is interesting. As I said, those that attended the bombed out universities, and those that worked in the modern hospitals, would disagree with his assertion that they have not translated more than a handful of books... Why must Americans always define people in relation to ourselves?

[Sandpiper]

4. Glad your brother's coming home safely

But a lot of what he has to say sounds like typical imperialist reasoning. "You will only be happy when you learn to embrace the superior values that we tried to force upon you at gun point. I just can't understand why you don't appreciate it."

I have lived all over the Middle East and I tell you this culture is the root and we are foolish to think we can make them like us. I tried to pass on one thing to them. I am here to give my life for your freedom while preserving mine own. Are you willing to do the same? I am afraid the answer is no and until they are willing to sacrifice then it will never get better. They would rather live in suffering and complain. Enough - I am coming home.

[AVID]

5. We are VERY happy to have him coming home

Its hard to judge his mind-set. He has been there for 16 months, we can only imagine what he has seen.

We haven't talked politics with him for a long time - for obvious reasons.

[Eloriel]

14. I'm happy for you too

And also very sorry for some of the responses in this thread. Frankly, they're embarrassing. You're entirely right: we don't know what his mindset is, but we do know there's a touch of bitterness, and world-weary sadness in his tone.

I actually think he's right, even if he chose to portray it clumsily, or perhaps doesn't (can't?) see the big picture himself: I believe it was Scott Ritter who pointed out for me somewhere in his talks that it took the West thousands of years to develop the institutions that democracy entails, that democracy is a process not a destination, and that WE'RE still working on it ourselves (at least I hope we are). To try to impose "democracy" on any culture, esp. at the point of a gun, is folly at best. Except we know that "democracy" isn't what the Bush Cabal ever had in mind, just a nice, compliant client state whose resources we can continue to rip off.

I hope you can get him home and eventually take him to see F911 -- IF it seems appropriate.

Good luck to all of you!

[soup]

13. The most important part of the message

Enough - I am coming home.

I'm so glad your wife's brother is coming home safely. Everything else can be worked out over time.

So much of the letter is hard to figure out, beginning with this:

"I just can't explain this experience but I would consider it a personal favor if you would take the time to really see this beyond the news- many people have died."

Not quite sure what he's trying to say there or further on in the letter.

There's a lot of pain in his words. Someone had a thread a while back saying we have approximately 135,000 wounded coming home from Iraq. Whatever else the letter conveys, that much is obvious. Whether physical, or mental - or both, there's a lot of healing to be done.

I swear, the whole world needs a bandaid.

The good news is Enough - I am coming home.

[frankly_fedup2]

16. Maybe you got your numbers wrong because we only have

approximately 140,000 troops there period. I doubt 135,000 are coming home wounded.

I do know that the ones that do come home are missing arms, legs, hands, feet.

My mother-in-law's aunt (who is about the same age as my mother in law), had a son who worked for some company over in Afghanistan between the Gulf war and 9/11. He was helping to diffuse all the cluster bombs that are still laying all around the pile of rocks that make up Afghanistan. Well, he came up on one or two at the same time and it blew him up. I think he has been dead now around 5-8 years.

[soup]

17. I apologize for this delayed response.

Just checked the 'my posts' list and found your post.

I am so sorry for your family's loss. What a terribly dangerous and heroic job he took on. I would have been honored to meet and thank him for such an undertaking. Instead, I can only offer this - may he rest in peace and your family find comfort in his efforts to make the world a safer place.

-----

I did a search and here's a link to the thread I mentioned:

135,000 American Casualties in Iraq
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=1866377#1881693

Thank you, Gordon25.