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 ...
The NYT is trying to kill US Soldiers as well.
“...these extended, multiple deployments are starting to take their toll on the men and women serving over there.”
How dare you say...the keyboard commandoes in Ft. Livingroom know better....
you have some very valid points and the constant redeploymnets are difficult too.
Its really hard to win a PC war and then not have no draft.
And it won’t get any easier in the future. The left has so brainwashed citizens about “how’ to fight a war and ‘who the heck is the enemy” ( here or there.).
It's not your father's media
... Consumers of news now understand that, as Eastland says, "News is a thing made, a product, and that media with certain beliefs and values once made the news and then presented it in authoritative terms, as though beyond criticism. Thus did Walter Cronkite famously end his newscasts, 'And that's the way it is.' That way, period."When, after the misreported Tet offensive of 1968 (a U.S. military victory described as a crushing defeat), Cronkite declared Vietnam a "stalemate," he spoke, as Mindich says, to "a captive audience." Nearly 80 percent of television sets in use at the dinner hour were tuned to one of the three network newscasts, and Cronkite had the largest share.
If that had been the broadcast marketplace in 2004, John Kerry would be president: The three networks reported the Swift boat veterans attacks on Kerry only after coverage of the attacks by cable news and talk radio forced Kerry to respond. The networks were very interested in charges pertaining to a Vietnam-era story about George W. Bush's alleged dereliction of National Guard duties -- until bloggers, another manifestation of new, small and nimble media, shredded it.
The war was lost when the military refused to obey the order.
It's called keeping the peace. Just because the UN is so bad at it doesn't mean that sometimes it needs to be done. And it doesn'r mean "kill anybody that looks at you funny"
The press came to the realization that they could ensure Americas defeat about 1970, they proceeded to do so, unmolested as the Johnson/Nixon Administrations did not have any means to fight back, although Nixon certainly wanted to and called a spade a spade if you listen to WH tapes from the era.
This POTUS has way more opportunity to counter but chooses not to fight the propaganda war at home while expecting soldiers to die on the battlefield.
Bad deal for the soldiers.
The MSM is gnawing off the lifeline that sustains it’s own existence. Suicidal?
Let me guess, you're John Murtha's son........Obviously you wasted 20 years of your life, sorry to hear that.
While you are entitled to your opinion, you nevertheless are not welcome in this locker room during halftime where the rest of us with positive attitudes are planning for our ultimate victory..........
We have no room for your defeatist attitude and do not wish to be associated with those who share your same cowardly stance.
Do not despair, our internal enemy did this story....imagine the NY Slimes as Tokyo Rose and it becomes clear..the motive.
Sir, you better explain that stupid comment....
I believe the military obeyed the “win the hearts and minds” order but had their hands tied by the Bush admin’s rediculously restrictive enagagement rules and ignorance/do nothing attitude in regards to foreign interference (Syria and Iran).
You would think the politicians would learn how to stay out of such affairs after Vietnam.
That's two of us. What?
I suggest you open your eyes and ears if you think all has been and is going ok on the ground in Iraq.
I thought only Democrats tried to shut down those who voiced different opinions and viewpoints. I guess I was mistaken.
THANK YOU for posting this information. This is worth 20 NY Times articles. This is the real story.
“(4/69 - 1/72)”
Did you avoid Vietnam?
When our POTUS allows this to continue then it is clear that he doesn't have a clue how to fight a war.
If you don't know what the hell you are doing you have no right to ask people to die.
Lack of a counter propaganda effort at home and failure to harass domestic enemies is proof positive this POTUS does not know what the hell he is doing.
Can’t help but sympathize with them, but if we don’t do it right this time it will be much worse the next time around.
The present Iraq war is a test. Most Muslims will side with the terrorists if we follow the ideas of the rockheads H. Clinton & Obama. They are busy making an impossible situation for their presidency’s. If they had any sense, they would support Bush to get the problem solved.
Sir, I was in Iraq during the first Gulf War!
I wanted nothing more than to finish the job that our military was not allowed complete the first time around.
We kicked ass and took names this time, and every soldier that participated in the second half, if a personal hero to me.
At to the people of Iraq? We gave them a new government and a chance for freedom. What they do with it, is now up to them.
Personally, I would have NUKED the whole damn country!
Just because the motive of the Slimes isn’t pure if the story is true then it should be judged on its merits, just as doubts continue to grow amongst former war-supporters here in America like myself I see no reason why the same wouldn’t be happening over there with our troops, even moreso.
Sorry, this kinda hit a sore spot with me personally.
If I offended anyone, it was not intended.
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