Guest Column: A Different View from Iraq

www.sftt.org ^ | 5-28-04 | Donald R. Sawyer

[treeclimber]

One of the things to become more important to me since I joined the armed forces is Memorial Day. Those of us in the U.S. military, especially here in Iraq, know the real stories that are taking place here, not just what the media covers. I wanted to send this letter back to my friends and family in Minden, to give everyone there a little first hand coverage from here, deep within Iraq.

Things are fairly routine here now. The days seldom change from one to the next. Lots of good things are happening in Iraq. I have spent some time over the last few months with the new Iraqi Army (not to be confused with the police). There are about 250 of us (U.S. military, all branches) at the Noncommissioned Officer Academy (basically the New Iraqi Army boot camp) here in Kir Kush (not to be confused with the Kurdish city of Kir Kuk in the north), co-located with Camp Caldwell, home of the 2/30th (Big Red One) and several MP companies, who provide base security. Luckily, the NCOA area has security provided by U.S. Marines.

I have met hundreds of new recruits from all over Iraq. When they first arrive, the racism is quite evident. The Kurds, who are not ethnic Arabs and speak their own Kurdish language, hate the Arabs from the south.They view the Arabs as the “enablers” of Saddam’s Army, who they had been fighting against, alongside American Special Forces, for years.

The Kurds love Americans, but hate their Arab countrymen to the south. The Shias see themselves as superior to everyone in Iraq and hated too. The Ba’athists, embittered by their loss of power, are especially angry. The Sunnis are different and they have their own prejudices. The Yazitis, a strange religious sect, are also in the mix, offering a little more grist to the racist mill.

[treeclimber]

We need the real story...our media doesnt want to report anything that will help the war effort. They want the war to go badly so Kerry will have a chance. If Kerry was an honorable American, he would have no part of that charade. But, .....

[jla]

Excellent!

[jla]

fyi

[Maigrey]

First hand report PING!!!!!

[longtermmemmory]

We need more stories by soldiers by their own hand from the front lines. We need to bypass the so called reporters.

Rush (or Hanity) should have a regular military caller, I for one would welcome a post starting more threads from a soldier on the front. Soldiers may need to get clearance but intelligent writng should avoid "geraldo blunders".

We need to get the unvarnished and unflitered story. It is very obvious the mass media is being insanely partisan and there is no way radio and one foxnews channel can cover the slack.

[Keith]

I don't know about you all, but I have been the recipient of, and sender of more, emails with this kinda stuff. If we keep this up we WILL bypass the media filter and win this election IN SPITE of them.

[Bobbisox]

Great Article! Thanks, I needed that!

[InterceptPoint]

I should assume that all Freepers understand how to e-mail a Web Page but, just in case someone doesn't, here is how you do it with Internet Explorer:

1. From the FR page, click on the link to the original article and bring it up

2. Click on File / Send / Page by E-mail on the IE menu and then just pick out the e-mail recipient(s) and hit the send button.

We should all make it a practice to send articles like this to as many people as possible, in particular those Libs who are not yet convinced that Kerry is their man.

[Jaded]

Great article!

[Thoro]

Great article!

Full agreement bump.

[Irish Eyes]

Thanks for the post and the link. This is a wonderful column wth great news.

[FBD]

Here is the front page link to a copy of Osama bin Ladens terror training manual: Please bookmark it.
KNOW THE ENEMY.

Pay especial attention to "Espionage; Information Gathering Using Open Methods" - chapter 11
(click on pages 8, 9 and 10.)

http://thesmokinggun.com/archive/jihadmanual.html

Use this link to remind your friends, co-workers, and family:

WE ARE AT WAR.

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Those of us in the U.S. military, especially here in Iraq, know the real stories that are taking place here, not just what the media covers. I wanted to send this letter back to my friends and family in Minden, to give everyone there a little first hand coverage from here, deep within Iraq.

Things are fairly routine here now. The days seldom change from one to the next. Lots of good things are happening in Iraq.

I have spent some time over the last few months with the new Iraqi Army....

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Thanks for the pings.

Thanks for the post, treeclimber.

You aren't alone.

Our troops need our help putting out the truth, so at least the people know the good news exists, and where, and can then find and share it on their own - after being properly outraged on behalf of our honorable troops - "why didn't I hear about this on the news?!"

Good news - facts are stubborn things. (^:

~ ~

Pro-'Coalition of the willing' articles and source links, updated daily.

[SAMWolf]

bump

[Alamo-Girl]

Bump!