Posted on 05/27/2007 4:23:04 PM PDT by james500
Staff Sgt. David Safstrom does not regret his previous tours in Iraq, not even a difficult second stint when two comrades were killed while trying to capture insurgents.
“In Mosul, in 2003, it felt like we were making the city a better place,” he said. “There was no sectarian violence, Saddam was gone, we were tracking down the bad guys. It felt awesome.”
But now on his third deployment in Iraq, he is no longer a believer in the mission. The pivotal moment came, he says, this past February when soldiers killed a man setting a roadside bomb. When they searched the bomber’s body, they found identification showing him to be a sergeant in the Iraqi Army.
“I thought, ‘What are we doing here? Why are we still here?’ ” said Sergeant Safstrom, a member of Delta Company of the First Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry, 82nd Airborne Division. “We’re helping guys that are trying to kill us. We help them in the day. They turn around at night and try to kill us.”
His views are echoed by most of his fellow soldiers in Delta Company, renowned for its aggressiveness.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
We lost the war, when our military was ordered to “win their hearts and minds.”
As a soldier for 20 years, I supported this war in Iraq in every way possible.
Today, it is time for our heroes to come home.
this the story Drudge is hawking?
Carlson: Shift news to successes in Iraq, soldier urges
http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070523/OPINION01/705230371/1001
”Hello media, do you know you indirectly kill American soldiers every day? You inspire and report the enemy’s objective every day. You are the enemy’s greatest weapon. The enemy cannot beat us on the battlefield so all he does is try to wreak enough havoc and have you report it every day. With you and the enemy using each other, you continually break the will of the American public and American government.
“We go out daily and bust and kill the enemy, uncover and destroy huge weapons caches and continue to establish infrastructure. So daily we put a whoopin on the enemy, but all the enemy has to do is turn on the TV and get re-inspired. He gets to see his daily roadside bomb, truck bomb, suicide bomber or mortar attack. He doesn’t see any accomplishments of the U.S. military (FOX, you’re not exempt, you suck also).
“Let’s give you an example. A couple of days ago we conducted an air assault. We lifted troops into an area for an operation. The operation went well and our ground troops killed (insurgents) and took several prisoners, freed a few hostages and uncovered a weapons cache containing munitions and chemicals that were going to be used in improvised bombs.
“The next morning I woke up and turned on AFN (Armed Forces Network) and watched the nightly news (NBC). Nothing, none of that reported. But the daily car bomb report was reported, and the file footage was not even from the event. There was a car bomb in the Sadr City area and your news report showed old car bomb footage from another part of town from some other time.
“So we really set the enemy back that night but all the enemy had to do was turn on the news and be reassured that the enemy’s agenda (objective) was still going to be fed to the American public.
“We, the soldiers, keep breaking the back of the enemy. You, the media, keep rejuvenating the enemy.”
this is the most confusing article I have read. I am not clear what the author is trying to come up with as a conclusion. The writing itself is not clear and one is not able to follow it.
I agree; it’s bs.
All credibility went down the drain when I noticed NYTimes published this.
You are fully entitled to your own mistaken opinions.
FWIW, I did a google search to see what I could find, and turned up the name on a promotion list from April 6, 2006. Not sure if it’s the same guy, of course, but it probably is.
It’s an on-line MS.doc file.
http://www.military.com/MilitaryCareers/Content/Files/MPDC_PromoAlert_Army_SSGT_032206.doc
“This is the most confusing article I have read. I am not clear what the author is trying to come up with as a conclusion. The writing itself is not clear and one is not able to follow it.”
Well, you’ve pretty much summed up ANY article printed in the NY Slimes, LOL!
Just remember; their daily agenda is to always, always harm America and (currently) President Bush in any way that they can.
After you understand that, it’ll all fall into place for ya. ;)
I’m only in my early 30s. Was it this bad with these treasonous clowns during Vietnam? I can’t imagine what it must have been like with no internet and the a-hole media in complete control of all news.
Really? Who won?
Whether or not there is a Sergeant Safstrom in D/1/325, the opinion expressed by him is increasingly becoming a popular one. There's no denying that these extended, multiple deployments are starting to take their toll on the men and women serving over there. There's a lot of frustration and anger growing in the ranks. I hate to break it but there's going to be a lot of men and women who wear BDUs to work voting "D" in the next election. And they're going to vote "D" because they are tired of war and want to come home.
Not until we win.
Yes, but we kept on doing what our military does best. We did the best we could fighting the enemy; at home and in Vietnam.
.............and we came back (most of us), settled down, raised a family, worked our butts off to get ahead, respected our country, and are now watching our grandchildren grow up.
Think about it. If you you running insurgent ops, where would you embed your forces? Heck, you don't even need to outfit them.
The function of the American military is to kill people and break thing. It is NOT to “win the hearts and minds of the people!”
As with Vietnam, when our military is no longer allowed to do it’s job, it is time for them to come home.
If you want to continue our efforts of winning the hearts and minds of the people of Iraq, then I strongly suggest sending in the Peace Corpse or some other pansy-assed organization.
That is not what our military is for!
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