Sunday 31 December 2006

An interview with an anti-war activist


Alboraq Media Organization (alboraqmedia.org) made an interview with one of the ant-war actisit named Mr.John Smith ans asked him about the situation in iraq .... Here is the full text for the interview :

1- Briefly what is your view about the war called "Iraqi freedom"?
My view on the invasion of Iraq by the United States and others is that it is simply wrong. This view is shaped by my understanding on the reasons why it happened in the first place. For me and for many others all over the world, we don't understand the reason for the war other than to take the oil from Iraq and the people, to establish a permanent base for US military forces in the region, and for helping to expand the American empire to Iraq. The reasons Bush explained have all been proven to be completely wrong, even worse, these were all magnificent lies! The weapons of mass destruction and the link to Al Qaeda and the attacks of 9/11 in the US. None of this was really the true reasns, this was all just used so the majority of the people in the US would allow the war to happen. Iraqi Freedom can only come from the actions of the Iraqi people. So for me the war by the US is not bringing the freedom to Iraqis, but the resistance forces who are fighting against the occupation, they are bringing the real freedom to Iraq.


2- What is the best thing to stop this war in your opinion?
I think the best and quickest way for the war to end, is for all foreign armies to remove themselves from Iraq immediately. This can happen if the people in the US and other nations pressure their governments to make this happen. Also on the ground in Iraq, the people must continue to reject the occupation and demand that Iraqis be allowed to determine the future of their own country.


3- How can the soldiers currently serving quit from the army?
The decision should be a very easy one for them. The war is based on lies, and is doing nothing positive but killing people on all sides, the most victims being Iraqi civilians. So with this fact alone, they should refuse to obey orders for such a useless war. But there is a lot of pressure for the US soldier to stay with his friends and protect them. So this is one reason why many soldiers are against the war but stay and continue to fight, kill, and see their friends get killed. If a soldier wanted to leave the military, there are many options to look at. There are even groups and organizations that are set up to help them navigate their way through the military system and leave the service, they just have to make this decision and do some research.


4-How does the Pentagon enlist young people, what are the main points? Do they use things like "poverty" to their benefit?
The Pentagon does a lot of the same things as the government to get their way. They lie a lot, and spend billions of dollars to tell their lies and make them look very fancy. One trick for them to get people to join the military is telling them, join the Army and we will pay for all your college and school, and also we will train you in a fancy job, so when you leave the Army you will have a high education and good jobs training. Of course this depends a lot on if the soldier survives in the war at all, or comes home missing one leg, or arm, or has some brain damage. The most effective tricks they use are against the poor people of America, they believe a lot in what lies they are told by the military recruitment people.


5- Does the Pentagon fulfill the promises like education and job training?
Does Bush bring freedom for Iraq? The answer to both these questions is NO. They tell the lies to get them to join, once they have joined it is easy for the military to just change the soldier's job trainining, change their education plans whenever they want to do it. The job training in the military is all jobs dealing with war and killing, so how effective is these skills for a civilian work place? For education benefits, most soldiers don't get the maximum education benefits, they get only half of them or even less.


6-How much do they spend for recruiting?
They spend billions of money for recruiting, close to $4 billion to do it. This money pays for all the advertising on television, in radio, newspapers and magazines, and in films. It also covers all the toys they make to attract the young people to talk with them, the toys are like video games, and phone cards, and things like that.


7-What is the "stop loss program" and how does it work??
The stop loss program is a policy in the military. When someone joins the military, they agree to serve them for 2, 3, or 4 years. After this agreed time is finished, the soldier is due to leave the military. So the stop loss policy gives the leaders the power to keep the soldiers from leaving the military even after their time for leaving arrives. So many soldiers in Iraq may have times for leaving the military, but the leaders can keep them past their time for leaving by 6 months or even a year. This is part of the problem in the US military when you can feel like they own you and you are like a slave.


8- How similar are both the situations of Iraq and Vietnam?
The situations are very similar, but also different. The problems are all the same for the US: impossible to win against the guerilla warfare and the reasons for the war are not good ones. The Iraqi resistance is always steps ahead of the occupation, they operate and coordinate with the local population, which makes it very hard for the US. This is similar to Vietnam war. I think one of the main differences is the US military in Vietnam had a military draft, and the war today in Iraq is all-volunteers. Of course the numbers of the Army in Vietnam and Iraq is very different because of this. In Iraq only 150,000- 160,000 soldiers at any time, in Vietnam there were much more troops. In the end I think the war in Iraq is much worse than Vietnam and America will learn another lesson with Iraq, but this one will be much harder for the US.


9- How much has the war cost so far, and what would happen if this money was spent on improving the lives in other fields like education and health care?
The money is now maybe in the trillions! I remember in 2004 they reported spending $2 billion per month in Iraq, then in 2005 they said it went up to $4 billion per month there. So in one year it is easy for them to spend $24 billion in 2004, and $48 billion in one year of 2005. If this money was spent on Iraqi health and education it would improve things so much for Iraq. Also if this money were used on health and education in the United States it would also improve things much better than spending it on war and destroying of Iraq.


10- We have heard that some soldiers are sent to Iraq after their Basic training only, is it true?
Yes this has happened. Some soldiers are sent to die in Iraq in their first 6 months or year after they joined. The US military has become desperate for troops by sending very newly trained soldiers to Iraq, by sending soldiers to Iraq for their 5th or 6th time there, also they are recruiting lower educated people into the military and sending them quickly to Iraq, and also senidng soldiers from the Navy and Air Force to help the ground forces in Iraq. All of these things show that the US military is very desperate and doing things that are not a good strategy to try and win the war in Iraq.


11- To stop this war,in your opinion what should be done by the American people?
I said it before, but the American people should not allow any more Iraqi people to suffer from this war. They should not allow one more of their sons or daughters to die like a dogs in the streets of Iraq. They should not allow one more dollar be spent by the companies and the government to continue this war. These things are still only happening on a small scale. The American people could end this war quickly by going to their government and demanding the war to end, but it have to be in large, massive numbers of people. Also the people inside the military could refuse to fight this war. This is starting to happen, and maybe in some more years it will become a powerful effort like during Vietnam War.


12- Finally any advice to the soldiers in Iraq!
My advice to US soldiers in Iraq is to try and survive there without doing any bad or horrible things to people in Iraq. Count your days for leaving and when you leave Iraq, tell yourself you will never come back to Iraq as an invader, or a part of the occupation. Ask your family in the US to research how you can leave the military and begin to make the effort of separating. Tell all your friends there and also back in the US the truth of the war; how it is useless and ask them to help stop it.

IAI : There are good people in America


kd There are good people in America they don’t like killing, destruction and aggressing other counties, also they are against the war, even some soldiers who invaded Iraq.
The most of the American soldier are deceived and they realized that after the invasion of iraq …. Bush used justifications for his war against iraq like claiming that he fights for the security of America and iraq is threatening america's security,many soldiers believed that because they don’t know the facts,even lots of them don’t know where is iraq located on the map,or how far is it from America,or if Iraq has really something to threaten America by .
But after the invasion the soldiers knew it was just lies,they didn’t find anything of what they had been told before …this country doesn’t have what to threaten America by, it doesn’t have aircrafts or equipments to attack America which is far a huge distance like from iraq.
They found they were decieved but very late….but how to survive?
We do what any good American citizen would do if his country was invaded…he will fight to stop the aggression. also we cant specify who is the soldiers having a good human being inside and don’t like what is happening and the others .. the bomb was planted and detonated against a humvee full with American soldiers,we cant define who is good and just fooled and who is bad.
What is the solution…we don’t want to kill such people…what we should do?
Who would survive this miserable soldier who involved in a war based on lies he believed
We are sure there are thousands of soldiers like that, waiting for someone to help them to finish their bad situation…

islamic army in iraq

Lee flash memory ... a letter to his family inside


A flash memory drive was found after this Hummer was blown up, it belongs to a U.S. Army Specialist, who served in Iraq. In his personal flash drive was a letter he planed to send to his family for the Christmas holidays, 2006.


Dear Mom and Dad,
I am so glad I could send you my third Christmas greetings letter, and I hope it finds you in good health… God, I wish I was there with you right now, just sitting around the fireplace or engaging in conversation as we sit in front of the dinner table around this mouth-watering turkey in this blessed night.
And I hope that my letter would get to you in time … And so that you know, all my colleagues over here sends their warmest greetings to their parents as well.
I am sure you are wondering whether “Lee” is alright? And how is he managing his third year in Iraq?
In fact, my third year over here differs a lot from the previous two years, and it’s no secret that I’m a bit over my head and just can’t concentrate any more.
God I miss Florida so much, my hometown Sanford, the people, and the shiny beaches of Florida, specially the eastern coast. Do you by any chance know that there is no sea over here?!
I surly didn’t know either! I thought I was going to see clear water and gold sand wherever I turned my head, as that is what I know about the Arab lands and that’s what I saw when I set foot in Kuwait before I join my unit in Iraq.
Ahhhh … This brings back the memories of my first days in here … It’s been a long time indeed, I remember … I was stationed in one of the palaces which belonged to Saddam … I felt like a prince!!! Everybody did as well!!! How Ironic?!
Everybody was jumping with joy too, you can see that in the faces of everybody in the palace and at the hotel which I was transferred to later. Everybody was showing off the souvenirs they’ve collected for their trip back home as evidence of their heroic acts in the battlefield, like the helmet of a republican guard, or the pistol of a top official, or a plucked out portrait from of the palace walls. I remember one reporter that showed me a gilded machine gun MP-5, which he said was one of Saddam’s personal belongings, and that he will be offering it for sale in a New York auction after 15 years. He also told me that there are many other priceless pieces now in possession of soldiers and officers, describing the situation as if they found the treasure of Ali-Baba.
Everything was so easy at first, and it seemed like we did our job too soon. I remember one of the reporters asking me about our tasks back then, and my answer was fairly simple as our missions were all “clean”, like guarding Ministries and Banks from robbers (with the exception of those of gilded machine guns and antiquities), and also collecting weapons from the many abandoned military barracks and bases of the ex-Iraqi army, also the supervision of arms demolishment and vehicle dismantling in pre-made dumps, and lastly supervising the training of officers and soldiers of the new security forces.
Dear Dad, I always wondered where the America’s tax payers money is spent?, and when I came here I immediately knew the answer … However I don’t think all this money would be spent like this if it weren’t for the confidence and certainty by the military leadership of their capability of overthrowing Saddam’s regime… However, what they did not anticipate was the aftermath of this takeover.
On a personal level … I started to sense trouble when unidentified attackers targeted us and as we spent the rest of the days breaking in houses trying to catch them. During one of these nights, I remember how we broke into a house, and my colleagues Mathew, Parry and Douglas started smashing the house, and hitting the house owner and his young son with the butt of their guns until they both faded all because they couldn’t understand us. As I stood there speechless, only to wake up at the voice of my friend Parry saying: “It seems like the old guy is dead”, and eventually we found nothing.
And for all that, the attacks against us naturally increased, to a level where it became impossible to go out in your vehicle without having your patrol under attack at least once.
In light of such incidents the violence and counter violence started to erupt, and I admit that we have used excessive force a lot, to a level in which the people started to turn against us … and crimes committed by our soldiers during break-ins started to emerge such as burglary, harassment, raping and random man-slaughtering.
The strength of attacks intensified day after day, making it even hard to sleep because of the mortar shells.
I remember that day in the military base when we were asked to head for an auditorium to attend a meeting and a presentation for some new tactics briefing.
We went there and in the way I saw Wilson staring at the Humvees and I wondered why? But when I saw the door of the Humvee with some shrapnel and bullet marks in it I told him let’s go, we’ll be late.
As we stepped in the commander started to welcome us, and everything was alright, but nearly after ten minutes we heard two successive explosions outside of the auditorium, everybody panicked, and then we realized we are being attacked by mortar shells, and one has hit the auditorium and was on fire. There were some wounded, and Wilson told me, here they are welcoming us as well, it looks like the curses of Iraq have just begunThis was the first time I saw something like that.
The night came, and we were sitting with a group of friends, one said that more than twenty were either wounded or killed when the two rockets hit, and I said to myself: My God, if they were two inches closer to us we would’ve been among the dead by now.
We went sleeping and Wilson told me, imagine if we were hit again! I told him, this might be our last sleep.
I couldn’t sleep that night, I was thinking about home, Mom, and my girlfriend, work was pretty good, and my life was calm, why am I here? I thought a lot of an answer until I felt asleep.
The next day, we were assigned a guard mission for a Halliburton convey. We left the base, and that was the first time I saw the streets in Iraq, we went out and I mounted the Humvee’s tower. We arrived at the convey which was coming from Jordan, there were a lot of trucks and we were driving along side to protect them and keep Iraqis cars away. My mind went astray for a second, and I thought, this is a Halliburton and KBR convey, which has contracts in hundreds of millions with the army, and we are here to protect it and take hits on their behalf. It is the vice president owned Halliburton. Oh my God, they are sending us to war, and then invest their money on us.
Suddenly a group of Iraqi cars showed up, the commanding officer asked me to order them to move away, I got back to my senses and asked them to move, and they did.
A few minutes later, a sound of an explosion came from the back, and when I looked I saw one of the trucks on fire, as one of the privates was shouting “IED, IED” … which stands for Improvised Explosive Device … that’s a hard number in Iraq.
A few seconds later we were taken by surprise with bullet showers and RPG launchers as another IED exploded, it seemed that we were stuck in a trap. I then started to fire back at the direction of the armed men, which we couldn’t see, because you can't tell from which direction is the fire coming. Then the armed men left as we no longer were hit.
Two trucks were burnt, these IEDs were supposed to be our share, but thank God.
Our mission was over, and went back to our base.
It was another sad day, in which I saw death again. Until when will I stay in this hell?
Why are we even here? The people hate us, and they still don’t want our presence, a lot of the kids throw stones at us. We didn’t find the weapons of mass destruction which they talked about, even worse, our forces have used it against civilians in Fallujah. And even after capturing Saddam, the attacks are increasing daily.
Here are the sons of America, falling everyday, each have a family, friends and kids waiting for their return.
In the first three years 2314 soldiers were killed, in the very same period 1864 were killed in Vietnam.
Can’t we learn from our mistakes?
I started to regret the day I enlisted for the army, and I remember that awful day when the Pentagon recruiters came to enlist us, and how I was convinced by what they said. I was told the Pentagon spends 2.5 Billion dollars yearly to recruit us, develop computer games for us to play, and then a few months later would send us to practice it on the battlefield. My God, wasn’t this money better off spent in New Orleans or even on the poor in the South, or for HIV prevention campaigns.
But that guys talk was full of promises, the scholarship, and job training, and everything they promised allured us to enlist. But here I am in Iraq, sleeping as my biggest dream is not larger than seeing the dawn of the next day, and that my life won’t end with a sharpen of a bloody mortar shell.
Besides, I didn’t come here to participate in causing destruction, I though we will be helping these people re-build their country, but I never heard from any senior officer or even top officials and politicians in the media talking about re-construction!!!
More to the point, I’m anti-war myself …
I only wish that I stood more firmly behind that. I didn’t know that coming over here would change all my future plans … Because I never anticipated nor imagined that I would come here to simply lose my life.
I don’t think this is what any American wants, to travel thus far only to tragically lose his or her life for nothing.
The future was ahead of me … I have planned differently for it, and I don’t know how my coming over here would have benefited my people, sarcastically most of my hometown folks don’t even know where Iraq is located on a map.
Why don’t we just leave these people alone? If Saddam was a dictator then our neighbor Castro is a dictator too.
Moreover, where are all the piled weapons of mass destruction?!I joined the army and went to Iraq to make sure that these weapons will not be used against my own people, but we didn’t find any! So why are we here today?
Is my government bluffing? Is the president bluffing?
Oh my God, looks like I won’t be sleeping tonight as well, as I just heard the siren go on, and we are being instructed to go into the fortified bases because there are some mortars coming our way.
Patrols all day, IEDs and bullets from unknown locations, and after all of this physical and mental stress we can't even sleep for an hour during the night …
The alarm went off, and so did my anxiety, I’ll try to sleep for a few hours, to start fresh for a next day filled with surprises. Tomorrow I’ll try not to be the gunner, I won’t stand at the Humvee tower, because you can excuse yourself from a night shift with a few dollars, and with more dollars you can skip the Humvee tower watch, which makes you an easy prey for the snipers and IED shrapnel … But still, the Marijuana rolled cigarettes are the rare currency capable of buying and changing anything.
The drugs goes all around in here, and we have those who sneak it in our base orderly, its business is prospering, and the gangs are monopolizing it … Yes, gangs, don’t feel strange … Exactly like the Latinos influence and control over the markets of drugs and prostitution in Florida. My dormitory for example is under the GDN gang’s control, and no other competitor is allowed in.
Anyways, I feel fortunate as everybody here loves the GDN, and they respect and fear its mother gang the Folk Nation.
It is the dawn of a new day, we went out to the city for our everyday patrol, it was a Friday, we found a crowd by one of the mosques, there were some very angry people protesting and holding signs in English that read: Go Home, We Don’t Want You In Iraq. I remembered those days in which I was participating in such anti-war protests, I was one of the 11 Million who protested in America against the war, but nobody listened to us, in America the cradle of democracy!, and the president even described us as focus groups!
I looked at those protestants, whom are supposed to be happy with big smiles in their faces, and are supposed to be throwing us with flowers and candy just like the president said. But they were right in what their doing. Because the president promised Iraq to be the best country in the region, and the world to be safer, and that Iraqis would lead a life of democracy and freedom which they were deprived of, and that we’ll reconstruct their country. But what happened was quite the opposite, no one is safe, the basic necessities of life are not available, in addition to what the reckless soldiers are doing to Iraqis such as the torturing and humiliation we all saw in Abu Graib, which only shows part of the big picture. What an ugly world is this.
In our way back we saw death once again, when an IED exploded at the Humvee in front of us. I saw it fly up and flip on its side killing a soldier and wounding the rest. And I said oh my God, what if our Humvee was a few meters ahead instead of that Humvee. Oh God it's hell in here, if you don’t get hit and killed then you’ll be living to wait for your turn. This phobia which you live in is even more damaging.
We went back to our ominous base, and in that day they were holding a funeral service for the dead soldier, we all stood in sadness and grief. His boots and rifle were upside down, hanged on it was his helmet which didn’t protect him from the shrapnel. Some of his friends delivered an eulogy.He was nearly my age, married, and just had a baby one month ago, which he never saw and never will. This soldier is nothing but a number to be added to the thousands of numbers in the death records, but he is worth a lot for other people specially that baby who will live his whole life without a father, all for the sake of Mr. President.
In this night, as usual, the sirens went on, announcing a new night full of anxiety, everybody ran to their shelter. No peace whether outside or even inside the base. And I wondered don’t those rebels get tired, it has been more than three years now, yet everyday they become more violent, and why haven’t we defeated them so far? It might be that people hate us, and so, they support them. But those are rebels or terrorist who hate freedom and democracy, and they want to harm Iraqis, and kill them, that’s what the president said. But why are they still fighting until this very minute? Nobody can deny the horrible crimes we committed in this country. We promised them a lot and offered them nothing, we made their country the most dangerous place in the world.
They are using different methods and tactics, and there are tens of ways in which they can make you lose your life:
- A shrapnel-stocked IED- Trashed inside a Hummer- Trapped in a burning Abrams- A sudden death by a sniper’s bullet- Mortar attack right at your bunk in your dormitory- Suicidal operation- Or more interestingly, watching yourself falling down in your own warplane
My homeland … America was once occupied, and the British committed horrible crimes against us. Boston’s massacre, that’s what it was called in the history class. They killed five civilians and then the American revolution started, and battles lasted for eight years between the British army and the Continental army, and heroes came out like John Paul Jones and George Washington, and then we got our independence.
Ironically, we have directly and indirectly killed more than 700 thousand Iraqis because of the chaos we caused, and yet we don’t want them to resist?
This too torments me, as I always feel I’m the oppressor, not the oppressed, but if I don’t kill I’ll be killed!! But why all of this in the first place?
As for those who we thought would hasten our exit out of Iraq, I mean the Iraqi Police and National Guard, they are so corrupted and lame that we can’t rely on them to do anything. They even can’t get a simple task done without our direct interference and supervision. They don’t even care of their own people, as if they were not Iraqis, they torture them more than we do, and in checkpoints they treat them brutally. In addition to all that they are stupid and useless.
Another day of our sad days in Iraq is over, and the sun of the new day has rose.
I missed you so much this day Mom, and I remembered the Christmas holidays, Santa Clause gifts and the rest of my family. I wish I could go home soon and never ever return here.
I feel like I’m Charlie Sheen playing the role of Chris in the movie Platoon. Because both of us come from an upper class rich and educated family, both of us went to war believing that we are the heroic saviors of the world, and both of us were put down by the factual realities on the ground.
And I wish that I can make it out in peace in the end, just like Chris!!
I actually feel like if I was part of that platoon in the movie. Or to describe it more accurately I feel like the soldiers have came out of the movie and are playing their roles in reality in Iraq!!! As the same scenarios keep repeating themselves, the massacre in village, the discord within the unit, the daily loss of buddies, and the drugs underneath the helmet of every soldier …
What we are doing here is so disgraceful, our acts are shameful, and we are a shame in the face of freedom and morals.
I started to hate people, and people hate us so much, and they throw everything at us.
And on top of all that I hate myself, and I am afraid that I’ll mentally deteriorate or have a post-traumatic stress like most of those who returned home, or commit a crime like the one Andres Raya did in California, or shoot one of my family and myself like Pfc. Stephen S. Sherwood after he came back from Iraq, or commit a suicide like hundreds do in here.
Why should I die for someone’s personal gains, and deceptive conclusions! and deceiving promises?
Where is the scholarship? And the financial aid you promised? Will you be forwarding it to me in hell?
Dear Mom, family, neighbors and good friends, I wish I was there with you this Christmas.
My friends,
Christopher,Parry,Mathew,Chad,Douglas,
I'll always remember all our good times we shared together. Don’t follow my steps and work quickly to get yourselves out of this mess, because nobody will get you out.
For all of that I wish that you step up and work seriously so that no more parents would lose their kids, and so that no more moms are shocked for the lose of their kids, or babies of their fathers.
In the end … I regretfully quote the wise words of our friend Chris as he was leaving Vietnam, as his words prove that we learned nothing from our tragic experience in there. But maybe his words would find an ear now:
I think now … looking back, we didn't fight the enemy …We fought ourselves.And the enemy was in us … the war is over for me now; but I'll always be there …
Spc. Lee Kendell Tucker590-80-5469