A conservative soldier's current opinion of Iraq

[Captain Liger 0]

....because it's my opinion. Given my track record on all things political I suppose I'm labeled a Republican kool-aid drinker by some. I suppose maybe that's fair although I don't really align myself with any one party....I'm a conservative and I vote for who I think is the lesser of two evils regardless of political affiliation. Why do I bother to explain this? Because what I'm about to say doesn't exactly line up with the majority of those on the right. It may not even line up with most of my brothers in arms. At any rate, here it goes....

Get out of Iraq. Allow me to explain myself before the "cut and run" accusations start. I haven't posted in a while. That's no secret. The last time I posted regularly was mid to late November. Since that time I've been up and down the east coast from Augusta to DC to Pennsylvania and then out to Texas to report for duty. I got to TX on the 1st of December and started inprocessing the installation I'm stationed at. Then I took a few days for house hunting, went to Cabo San Lucas on a whim for the weekend and then left for AL for Christmas/New Year's leave. In that time my view and opinion of Iraq has drastically changed. What caused the change? A few things....but I guess the number one reason was the loss of three close friends of mine during the first few weeks of December. It hasn't been easy. I can only imagine what it's like for their families. I can't seem to get their faces out of my mind when I'm alone. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. You may think I'm being selfish...that I value their sacrifice over those of the other servicemembers that have died. I'm not being selfish....that isn't it at all. Sure, I've known other people who were killed, some were friends. During OIF II my unit lost 13 soldiers. One of those was particularly hard for me to get over due to the horriffic nature of his passing. The difference in their sacrifice and that of the most recent is that the sacrifice of the 13 was at least worth it. I think that the soldiers getting killed now are dying for nothing. Why? Because our job in Iraq is done as far as I'm concerned. There's nothing left to do there. I was in favor of going into Iraq and I still believe we did the right thing in going there. But we've accomplished what we set out to do. And don't bring up WMD's. Saddam had them and he got rid of them before we invaded...our mistake was that we provided notice of our intentions. But back to accomplishments:

1) We toppled Saddam

2) We caught Saddam

3) We've given the Iraqi people a framework for democracy

4) We've overseen hugely successful and peaceful elections TWICE. They know how to vote and govern now

5) We've trained their National Guard

6) We've trained their active duty military

7) We've trained their police force

8) We've pumped millions of $ into their infrastructure, ie electricity, schools, hospitals, etc, etc

See where I'm going with this? Iraq is at the crossroads where they can stop walking and start running. They aren't stupid, they know how to take care of themselves. It's time to take the training wheels off and let them stand on their own two feet because at this point all we're doing is coddling them. President Maliki knows this and that's why he said his country could take care of itself starting this June. You know what? Hold him to it. OUR JOB IS DONE. If Iraq can't take care of Iraq then that's on them, not us. We've given them all the tools they need to run themselves in an organized and peaceful manner. If we leave and it turns into a Shia/Sunni bloodbath then so be it. That whole riff is so ridiculously stupid that if they really feel the need to slaughter each other over some stupid belief going back 1500 years then that's fine. To the victor go the spoils. Any violence that takes place after we leave certainly won't be a reflection on us because we've done everything we can do to help those people out post-Saddam. Want to send in more troops anyway? Fine. Send them. But come June they better be headed home so Iraq can be big boy. The 13 sacrifices my old unit made in OIF II were worth it given the situation on the ground at the time. Now? I think our boys are dying in vain and for what? God and country? Hardly. For Iraq? I hope not...not at this point anyway.

Could my post be taken as defeatist in nature? I hope not. I'm sure as hell not conceding defeat. We kicked Iraq's ass and then pulled them up off the ground, stitched up their busted lip and brushed off the dirt and dust. If anything, I'm claiming complete and total victory in Iraq. Like I said, we've accomplished what we set out to do. Our job is done and now it's time to come home and get ready for Iran.....or place some more troops in Afghanistan, whichever. I'm tired of losing friends...

Here's hoping 2007 sees a well deserved close to a successful military campaign in Iraq.

Told ya you'd be taken aback.

[Tigermike 3,053]

Sorry to hear about your friends Liger.

Thanks for the insight.

[Tiger Al 0]

....because it's my opinion. Given my track record on all things political I suppose I'm labeled a Republican kool-aid drinker by some. I suppose maybe that's fair although I don't really align myself with any one party....I'm a conservative and I vote for who I think is the lesser of two evils regardless of political affiliation. Why do I bother to explain this? Because what I'm about to say doesn't exactly line up with the majority of those on the right. It may not even line up with most of my brothers in arms. At any rate, here it goes....

Get out of Iraq. Allow me to explain myself before the "cut and run" accusations start. I haven't posted in a while. That's no secret. The last time I posted regularly was mid to late November. Since that time I've been up and down the east coast from Augusta to DC to Pennsylvania and then out to Texas to report for duty. I got to TX on the 1st of December and started inprocessing the installation I'm stationed at. Then I took a few days for house hunting, went to Cabo San Lucas on a whim for the weekend and then left for AL for Christmas/New Year's leave. In that time my view and opinion of Iraq has drastically changed. What caused the change? A few things....but I guess the number one reason was the loss of three close friends of mine during the first few weeks of December. It hasn't been easy. I can only imagine what it's like for their families. I can't seem to get their faces out of my mind when I'm alone. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. You may think I'm being selfish...that I value their sacrifice over those of the other servicemembers that have died. I'm not being selfish....that isn't it at all. Sure, I've known other people who were killed, some were friends. During OIF II my unit lost 13 soldiers. One of those was particularly hard for me to get over due to the horriffic nature of his passing. The difference in their sacrifice and that of the most recent is that the sacrifice of the 13 was at least worth it. I think that the soldiers getting killed now are dying for nothing. Why? Because our job in Iraq is done as far as I'm concerned. There's nothing left to do there. I was in favor of going into Iraq and I still believe we did the right thing in going there. But we've accomplished what we set out to do. And don't bring up WMD's. Saddam had them and he got rid of them before we invaded...our mistake was that we provided notice of our intentions. But back to accomplishments:

1) We toppled Saddam

2) We caught Saddam

3) We've given the Iraqi people a framework for democracy

4) We've overseen hugely successful and peaceful elections TWICE. They know how to vote and govern now

5) We've trained their National Guard

6) We've trained their active duty military

7) We've trained their police force

8) We've pumped millions of $ into their infrastructure, ie electricity, schools, hospitals, etc, etc

See where I'm going with this? Iraq is at the crossroads where they can stop walking and start running. They aren't stupid, they know how to take care of themselves. It's time to take the training wheels off and let them stand on their own two feet because at this point all we're doing is coddling them. President Maliki knows this and that's why he said his country could take care of itself starting this June. You know what? Hold him to it. OUR JOB IS DONE. If Iraq can't take care of Iraq then that's on them, not us. We've given them all the tools they need to run themselves in an organized and peaceful manner. If we leave and it turns into a Shia/Sunni bloodbath then so be it. That whole riff is so ridiculously stupid that if they really feel the need to slaughter each other over some stupid belief going back 1500 years then that's fine. To the victor go the spoils. Any violence that takes place after we leave certainly won't be a reflection on us because we've done everything we can do to help those people out post-Saddam. Want to send in more troops anyway? Fine. Send them. But come June they better be headed home so Iraq can be big boy. The 13 sacrifices my old unit made in OIF II were worth it given the situation on the ground at the time. Now? I think our boys are dying in vain and for what? God and country? Hardly. For Iraq? I hope not...not at this point anyway.

Could my post be taken as defeatist in nature? I hope not. I'm sure as hell not conceding defeat. We kicked Iraq's ass and then pulled them up off the ground, stitched up their busted lip and brushed off the dirt and dust. If anything, I'm claiming complete and total victory in Iraq. Like I said, we've accomplished what we set out to do. Our job is done and now it's time to come home and get ready for Iran.....or place some more troops in Afghanistan, whichever. I'm tired of losing friends...

Here's hoping 2007 sees a well deserved close to a successful military campaign in Iraq.

Told ya you'd be taken aback.

I agree with some of what you said and I disagree with some. I'll leave it at that. I'm sorry that you lost some of your friends. Army is hard that way. I said goodbye to some in Desert Storm. Hang in there because it gets better.

[CCTAU 3,345]

Unfortunately, as most things usually are, we can't just up and leave. We are now paying the price for Desert Storm. We gave our word back then and many people died because we did not keep it. Now, we as a nation, must keep our word that we will stay with them. We did not leave Germany, we did not leave Japan, and we cannot leave Iraq. Our past actions have put us in this situation, now we must endure. It would have been the same if we had done nothing. The potential cost in non-military lives was enormous. I hate that any soldier has to see, hear, or experience this in any way. My son sat around during the holidays and literally was heartbroken over the loss of four of his buddies just days before their last mission. One of the guys in his myspace video was lost. But he also sees how hard the Iraqis are struggling to make it. Their soldiers have been dying at a much larger rate and they still sign up. I pray that by June, the Iraqi government will start making and carrying out the hard decisions. When that starts, I'm not sure if we should just leave, but I do feel we should stand back, get out of the way, and let them wipe out any oppostion to the law.

As soon as they can enforce their own law, we can go. To up and leave and let it fall into a sectarian war would be allowing the terrorists to win. As much as I would love for them to eradicate most of their society, I feel we have screwed them over once in 1991. Would it look good for us as a country to not hold true to our word? Once again, this is due to an inept UN. If they are to become a world organization, then its time they stepped up and took ownership of their mistakes over the last 14+ years that led to this. If we, as people keep claiming, are better than the terrorists, then we have to do the right thing. Tough situation for our country to be in. But it still is no Viet Nam.

[DKW 86 7,440]

We have done everything we needed to do. I stopped supporting Bush 41 or 43 sometine ago. Problem? I dont know if the Dems actually have even thought about this. The new Chair of Domestic Terrorism Committee could not even state that al Qaeda was a Sunni institute.

[Bottomfeeder 244]

I feel sorry for you, Brother. I have lost two friends too. There is no mistake that it's a failed policy, and I hope it doesn't deter your dedication to an army career. You must go through the greiving process are you'll have problems in the future. Seek counseling soon.