Read this too, via InstaPundit also:
'They did not want us to leave whatsoever'
Iraqis welcomed U.S. troops, local Marine says
BY BRIAN WILLIAMS
Times Staff Writer
KOUTS -- On a peaceful rural porch overlooking a broad stretch of cornfield, with silent hummingbirds hovering at a feeder, Pfc. Jacob Cristea shows photos of blown-out tanks, himself assembling shrapnel grenades and the grim discoveries in a mass grave.
Cristea has blood and guts war stories from his six months in Iraq and Kuwait, but he says the last thing he wants to do is to tell them. Instead, the Marine prefers Americans see beyond the fighting and dying in Iraq and know the good he and his comrades-in-arms have brought to that country.
"What's important to me is that my country knows the good we did for (Iraq). You see stuff every day on TV. What they don't hear is the progress we've made over there."
That progress, according to the 1999 Valparaiso High School graduate, includes bringing law and order, government services and freedom.
"We did so much for those people."
Cristea, who returned to his base at Camp Pendleton in California in mid-August, is on leave, visiting his parents in Kouts for several weeks.
"We're thankful, thankful, thankful he's home," his mother, Debi, said,
Cristea wants to counter the prevailing media view of the reception U.S. troops have received in Iraq.
"All you hear is negativity. Ninety-five percent of the population in Iraq, in my experience with the locals -- they had nothing but good to say about us.
"A lot of them would come to us with information, a lot would come to thank us."
Kids jumped up and down when they saw his convoy, Cristea said. In Baghdad, Iraqis would crowd the barbed wire perimeter of his unit's compound and call out "USA! USA! Bush! Bush!"
"Whenever we drove anyplace, it was like we were in a parade," he said.
The 22-year-old machine gunner seems like a stereotypical Marine. He's muscular and short-haired. He peppers his speech with "sir" and military acronyms like MOPP, LOD, CAAT and MRE. He smoked and drank coffee almost non-stop during a three-hour interview.
But the hardened, battle-tested grunt also is reflective about his role in the war in Iraq. Cristea thinks about and doesn't think about the killing his unit did as they raced from Kuwait to secure oil facilities in southern Iraq at the start of combat and then on to Baghdad.
"We all thought about that," he said. "It wasn't a good feeling knowing that you killed somebody. It's really pretty sad."
But like a good soldier, Cristea never let this knowledge get in the way of his job. He doesn't regret the killing of Iraqi soldiers he took part in.
"It had to be done. Afterwards, I regret the decision they made. If that guy would've just put his weapon down, made another decision, he'd be at home right now with his family."
Cristea, a member of Weapon Company, 2nd Battalion of the 5th Marines Regiment, 1st Marine Division, drove a three-man humvee equipped to fire anti-tank missiles. The machine gun mounted on top could hit targets a mile away, so much of the death was far away.
In Baghdad, though, where the fighting was in closer, he said, "You could hear their screams."
Some of Cristea's encounters with enemy soldiers were surprising, even humorous. At times, so many wanted to surrender, that the Marines -- not wanting to be slowed on the drive to Baghdad -- simply disarmed them, made sure they didn't pose a threat and sent them on their way.
"It's funny seeing the look on these people's faces," Cristea said. "We let them go and they just couldn't believe it."
Most captured prisoners expected to be killed outright, Cristea said, and were surprised when they were fed and clothed instead.
"We didn't go over there to kill people," he said, but to oust former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. "Every chance to walk away, we gave it."
After major combat ended, Cristea's unit took part in raids to root out Saddam loyalists in Baghdad. They then went to the Euphrates River towns of Samawah and Rumaythah to help set up police, security and government services for the towns.
Law and order did not exist when the Marines arrived in Rumaythah, Cristea said, but the crime ended within about a week. By the time they left three months later, Iraqi police patrolled the town on their own.
That was just one of the improvements Cristea said the Marines made before handing the town over to Dutch forces.
"They actually protested a few times while we were over there (about Iraqis proposed for leadership positions) and thought it was the coolest thing. They've never been able to do that before."
The transition from war to occupation was difficult.
"It was really weird to flip the switch, to go from a war-like attitude to helping people," Cristea said. "It was easier during the war because you knew who your enemy was."
Aware of the ambushes and regular killing of American soldiers, Cristea tried to put it out of his head and block his emotions.
"You're always on the lookout, constantly aware of your surroundings. Everyone's a possible threat, from a 4-year-old boy to an 80-year-old elder," he said.
"You wish there's something you could do. I wish I could have been there for that ambush, maybe there's something I could have done to prevent it. At the same time you're thankful it wasn't you."
In southern Iraq, Cristea's unit provided security for a forensics team excavating a mass grave with hundreds of bodies, thought to be Kuwaiti opponents of Saddam's. Cristea shows photos of blackened skulls and bones dug out of the hard dry earth.
"It's about time that it ended," he said, "time to put a stop to it. Saddam was a sick man."
Of course, Cristea has his share of hardship stories -- temperatures as high as 134 degrees, losing 40 pounds, camouflage shirts caked with salt stains from his sweat, taking only three showers over his first three months -- but he takes them as just part of the job.
"(The heat) is frustrating, exhausting, but, you know, you're a Marine. You're trained to do a job. Regardless of the conditions, you get it done."
A prolific correspondent, Cristea sent more than 200 letters home to friends and family. His wife Jennifer has collected his letters to her into a scrapbook.
"When we have kids someday," Cristea said, "and they're learning about (Operation) Iraqi Freedom, I'll say 'Don't read that -- sit down and let me tell you what really happened' and I'll bring out all the notes."
Cristea is proud of what he and his comrades accomplished in Iraq. At the same time, he is sobered by the experience. "War is a terrible thing because people die," he said.
"It was basically overall a miserable time, but I love my country, my family and my friends. That's why I was over there. I'd do it all over again without a second thought."
Brian Williams can be reached at
bwilliams@nwitimes.com or (219) 762-4334.
http://www.thetimesonline.com/articles/2003/09/01/news/porter_county/342d3b8f21c208ad86256d93007d4cc3.txt
If these American soldiers think they are well liked where they have been,(in the mid east), they should come over to my house and see the feelings my family have for each and every one of them.
May GOD bless each and every one of them and their families.
Spent several days in Eureka last month (husband was raised there)on way to Oregon. Most of the residents are just average people with no particular ideological differences from the rest of CA. Of course, it leans to the left - but most of CA does. I saw several American flags on houses and cars (maybe even more than down here in SoCal). One of the biggest influences there, however, is the proximity of CSU Humboldt in Arcata. It is way over the edge to the left. Arcata probably is because of the student and faculty population. The activists have destroyed the timber and fishing industries and as a result, has created a huge welfare and dependent population. The job losses have created a lot of problems economically and it seems to be a fairly depressed area.
Sound like Humboldt is like ne of those Muslim schools in Pakistan, except it is run by 6os style professors.