Letter from a soldier in Iraq
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Then there is the daily staggering death toll for Iraqis.
In one month alone about 3000 Iraqis are killed by violent action. There are corpses everywhere you go in Baghdad. And we are not even looking for them. Any field in Baghdad will contain more than one murdered civilian. Parks are not for recreation, they are for dumping of bodies. We always hear and see the victims of the bombings, but the victims of gunfire , murder and kidnapping might be greater. Every Iraqi I know has lost a relative to the violence. Imagine if every American you know had lost someone in the war, then you begin to realize the magnitude of this disaster.
As soldiers we realize that our work is futile. At best we are preventing the Iraqi security forces from taking over their own country and at worst we are one of the causes of the insurgency. While our intentions may be honorable, our work is coercive and brutal, and therefore easy propaganda for the insurgents. We have lost the trust of the Iraqi people with no chance of regaining it.
Most of us soldiers don't believe the surge will work, even though violence has slightly abated. Think of the surge as a lid over a boiling pot of water. The lid does not lower the temperature, and eventually the heat will blow the lid right off the pot. The violent forces raging the country must be abated by a means other than American soldiers. I have lost hope that Iraq can get better. Yet each morning, I put on my combat boots, uniform, load my weapon and go out.
While many have focused on the lot of American soldiers in Iraq,
it is the Iraqis and what is best for them that we should be the focus. We soldiers, however unbearable this duty is, are only here temporarily. Our country is large and prosperous, and life is good for most Americans. Iraq is a living hell for all Iraqis. If I believed my presence in Iraq was helping, I would volunteer to stay.
But after 4 years in Iraq, we should have learned that our strategy is a failure. We can not force democracy with guns. The political reconciliation that must occur is not a military problem, much less an American problem.
We will never claim victory in Iraq since it is already lost. But our leaving can maybe create different conditions that might lead to a better future. Ultimately, the Iraqis must choose. And I believe they want peace.
read the rest at:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/4/7/113439/3021
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