A View Of Iraq From A Soldier

I am a concerned veteran of the Iraq War.

By John Bruhns

My view of the situation in Iraq will differ from what the American People are being told by the Bush Administration. My opinions on this matter come from what I witnessed in Iraq personally.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article9670.htm

http://snipurl.com/gq1y

Methinks some of what this young fella says don't make sense. 'Twould seem his opinions might be based on a distorted sense of reality.

Here's a good example: "I was engaged actively in urban combat in the Abu Ghraib area west of Baghdad. Many of the people who were attacking me were the poor people of Iraq. They were definitely not members of Al Qaeda, left over Baath Party members, and they were not former members of Saddam's regime. They were just your average Iraqi civilian who wanted us out of their country.

On October 31st, 2003, the people of Abu Ghraib organized a large uprising against us. They launched a massive assault on our compound in the area. We were attacked with AK-47 machine guns, RPGs and mortars."

I gotta wonder how "the poor people of Iraq" got that kind of weaponry and organization? 'Tain't likely AK-47's, RPG's, mortars and ammo for them grow on trees, eh? Methinks their attacks were reported as bein' pretty well coordinated.

'Tis a puzzlement!

I'm certainly no military expert Flydangler, but even I've heard that Iraq is one big Arms and Ammo Dump (largely unsecured). As for organization; Well, our troops were ordered to disband the Military! So they just took off their uniforms, took their weapons, and went home.

Can't speak for the Baghdad area I'm not there.

Weapons are easily obtained most places. Caring permits for weapons are required by all people and if the IA and IP at the checkpoints would be more thorough in checking their countrymen there would be alot less weapontry floating around out there.

Premeditated targeted and planned assasinations are becoming more prevelent even in my quiet corner. Iraqi Police Commanders (IP), interpretuers and anyone working with the coalition forces are being targeted.

There are some seriously bad characters over here stiring the pot but they have to stay in hiding to be effective and stay alive.

They are a tiny minority... and should never be underestimated.

Glad to hear from you SFC White.

What do you mean when you say they aren't thorough? Is it experience, training, culture, or something else?

Is it one particular group in your area or a combination?

Hope you don't mind the questions. I guess I prefer to get my information from someone who would know rather than the newspapers.

In terms of thoroughness... its a combination of all three but I would say that the last one you mentioned is the primary cause IMHO. In some cases they have very good leaders that are tough and conciencious. In other cases leadership positions are based on connections (tribal or otherwise) and not based so much on professional qualifications ---- LOL sound familiar???

Quality leadership is a positive driver that overrides many negative factors.

As far as trouble making groups in our area I will not speculate as to their background, drivers or intent....

I will say that the area I'm in does sit on roughly 1.5% of the Worlds Oil.

Gotta run... SFC White

Thanks for the update, Sarge. Really good to hear from you...you take great care, bro.

You've been on the forum since November but have only posted about 150 times. We need to hear from you more often- if for no other reason that to hear from you. Stay safe, Sarge.

That might be difficult Winston. DOD computers won't accept this type of website as a valid address so SFC White would have to go to a computer on an outside ISP.

Good to see SFC White still participatin' when he can. Might be the opinions of someone actually in Iraq might carry some weight here, but hopefully 'twon't open him up to attacks like those we've seen on other sites towards people serving in the zone, eh? That might be, but methinks RPG's and mortars ain't somethin' your average "poor Iraqi" could lay their hands on and/or be able to use proficiently or even well enough to fire without killin' themselves in the process, eh? Methinks that's far more likely than just the average "poor Iraqi" involved in these attacks as was the premise in the originator's note. IMHO these folks wouldn'ta been able to disburse and simply disappear so well had we been able to bring the heavy division down from Turkey and engage them, thus showin' how screwed up the invasion really was, eh?

The opinion of Major General Joseph Taluto should shed some light....

With all due respect Doc, what he describes jibes with what my friends and relatives describe as their experiences. Any weapon a person could want was available. People don't need to 'acquire' weapons, if you are willing to use something against Americans, you will be able to find someone willing to give you what you need as well as be paid for taking pot shots at our troops.

Do you think things would be different if our country were taken over by some superior force from beyond?

LOL, yes, it sounds very familiar. Glad you're able to get back here now and then. I don't come up here too much anymore and almost missed your reply.

Here's to quality leadership - may they find theirs and we find ours.
(that would be root beer)

Family doing okay?

Winston;

Thanks will do...I get access from the coffee houses of Kirkuk when I can.. between missions, maintenance, planning, training and keeping the wife upto date.

No doubt we are foriegners in a distant land.... that pisses some people off. But what drives people to kill and conduct suicide raids are religious fanatics... they build on peoples ignorance and use that to their advantage.

Ask an Iraqi if they are better off now then they were four years ago.... the majority will answer undoubtably "YES".

The big complaint --- our neighborhood is not getting the attention (Projects, funds, etc..) of other neighborhoods because we are Sunni or Arab...

.....no..................

..... your area is not getting the attention of other areas because it harbors terrorists, bomb makers and other people that are up to no good.

SFC White - Off the net.

Sure, which methinks indicates somethin' more organized than just your poor average Iraqi decidin' to go out when they feel like it, join an unorganized mob and kill people. That's my point, eh?

'Twould seem those poor average Iraqi folk takin' part in the insurgency are bein' recruited, armed, organized, trained and led by someone. Methinks those bein' convinced and paid to blow themselves up in the cause of Allah ain't doin' it on their own either. Only if those like Teddy Kennedy who want to pick and choose which of our Bill of Rights mean what they say are successful, eh?

Even if an invader met armed resistance methinks 'tis doubtful you'd see the same tactics bein' used here. Might be the fact that we have an occidental philosophy enters into it.

I think, in response the the question concerning how poor people could come up with weapons, there was an extraordinary number of them stashed everywhere....

at http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/..._vol3_cw-06.htm I found a long article.... This is just part of it

ISG estimates that CEA visits allowed us to review at most about 10 percent of Iraqi munitions. As of 15 September 2004, CEA has identified a total of 10,049 caches (a cache is considered a collection of munitions in any quantity) throughout Iraq. The breakdown of their activities follows:


To date, 10,033 caches have been cleared with a total of 405,944 tons of munitions delivered to the CEA points, an average of about 40 tons of munitions per cleared cache. Of that total, 243,045 tons of munitions have been destroyed, and 162,899 tons remain at the CEA points for future destruction.

16 caches remain outstanding, containing an estimated total of 6,068 tons, an average of 380 tons per cache.
ISG conducted CEA visits at about a two-per-month rate in early 2004 and it is estimated that ISG experts reviewed about 50,000-75,000 tons of munitions—about 12 to 18 percent of the grand total of 412,012 existing tons.

In addition to the CEA process, a large number of munitions were destroyed between OIF and late 2003, when CEA instituted its process. Officials at CEA have been highly efficient in destroying as much as 25,000 tons of munitions per month.

Recent data indicate that the grand total will continue to grow. Over the six-week period from the end of July to mid-September, CEA discovered an additional 291 caches with a total of 105,028 tons of munitions—cache discoveries continued to the time of writing. CEA estimates a total of 600,000 tons of munitions is the total tonnage, including munitions destroyed during OIF and scattered about the countryside. ISG believes this number is fairly uncertain, and could go considerably higher in the future as new caches are discovered. We regard 600,000 as a lower limit on total munitions. Using this number, we estimate we visited about 8-12 percent (in round numbers, 10 percent), or less of the total Iraqi munitions stocks.

Seems to me that it would be easy to have missed a few of these munitions storage facilities..... since some were stored in unusual places... like schools... and to have the redistributed. Additionally, I understand it is next to impossible to seal the borders effectively so outsiders can bring in money and weapons to hand out.... and pay the poor to use them. This would be particularly effective in recruiting an under or unemployed person who needs income for himself/herself or their families.