'I Don't Think This Place Is Worth Another Soldier's Life'

[northamericancitizen]

Source: Washington Post

snip

"When we first got here, all the shops were open. There were women and children walking out on the street," Alarcon said this week. "The women were in Western clothing. It was our favorite street to go down because of all the hot chicks."

That was 14 long months ago, when the soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, arrived in southwestern Baghdad. It was before their partners in the Iraqi National Police became their enemies and before Shiite militiamen, aligned with the police, attempted to exterminate a neighborhood of middle-class Sunni families.

Next month, the U.S. soldiers will complete their tour in Iraq. Their experience in Sadiyah has left many of them deeply discouraged, by both the unabated hatred between rival sectarian fighters and the questionable will of the Iraqi government to work toward peaceful solutions.

Asked if the American endeavor here was worth their sacrifice -- 20 soldiers from the battalion have been killed in Baghdad -- Alarcon said no: "I don't think this place is worth another soldier's life."

snip





Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/26/AR2007102602402_pf.html

[northamericancitizen]

1. "The role of a bouncer caught between brawling customers."

Here's an other quote from the article:

"Lt. Col. George A. Glaze, the battalion commander, says his soldiers are playing the role of a bouncer caught between brawling customers. Alone, they can restrain the fighters, keep them off balance, but they cannot stop the melee until the house lights come on -- that is, until the Iraqi government steps in.

"They're either going to turn the lights on or we're all going to realize they've moved the switch," he said.

"I'm frustrated. After 14 months, I've got a lot of thoughts in my head. Do they fundamentally get giving up individual rights and power for the greater good?" Glaze said. "I'm going to leave here being skeptical of everything."

[rodeodance]

2. Great headline!

[rodeodance]

4. he said. "They don't ever [expletive] see what we see on the ground."

"We had two mechanics working in the motor pool get hit by mortars," Alarcon said. "You would have never thought." Both died.

Many of the soldiers from the battalion are on their second tour in Iraq. Three years ago, they were based in Tikrit, the home of Saddam Hussein, a city they entered expecting to fight a determined Sunni insurgency. By the end of their tour, with much of the violence contained, many of them felt optimistic about progress in Iraq.

"I honestly thought we were making a difference in Tikrit. Then we come back to a hellhole," Marino said. "That was a playground compared to Baghdad."

The American people don't fully realize what's going on, said Staff Sgt. Richard McClary, 27, a section leader from Buffalo.

"They just know back there what the higher-ups here tell them. But the higher-ups don't go anywhere, and actually they only go to the safe places, places with a little bit of gunfire," he said. "They don't ever see what we see on the ground."

[rodeodance]

3. SEND this to the WH, here:

Contacting the White House

Mailing Address

The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

Phone Numbers

Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
FAX: 202-456-2461

TTY/TDD

Comments: 202-456-6213
Visitors Office: 202-456-2121
E-Mail

Please send your comments to [e-mail]. Due to the large volume of e-mail received, the White House cannot respond to every message. For further up-to-date information on Presidential initiatives, current events, and topics of interest to you, please continue to use the White House website.

[rodeodance]

5. On behalf of President Bush, thank you for your correspondence.

-------- Original Message --------
Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2007 13:01:35 -0400 (EDT)
From: [e-mail]
To: ...........


On behalf of President Bush, thank you for your correspondence.

We appreciate hearing your views and welcome your suggestions.

Due to the large volume of e-mail received, the White House cannot respond to every message.

Thank you again for taking the time to write.

[northamericancitizen]

6. Done . Thanks rodeodance . nt

[rodeodance]

9. some posted that it is staffed with Volunteers and maybe they will be forced

to read some of them-----maybe think about the comments they get.


It we can change/affect even a few, I say go for it.

[bronxiteforever]

7. K & R

[rodeodance]

8. People are kidnapped here every day, and you don't hear about it."

The Iraqi army's arrival and the emergence of the Sunni volunteers have coincided with some positive signs, the soldiers said. Some of the shops along the once-busy commercial district of Tijari Street now open for a few hours a day. The number of violent incidents has dropped, although it rose again over the past two weeks, officers said.

"This is a dangerous place," said Capt. Lee Showman, 28, a senior officer in the battalion. "People are killed here every day, and you don't hear about it. People are kidnapped here every day, and you don't hear about it."

[NMMNG]

10. It wasn't worth a single soldier's life

Or a single Iraqi's. Or a single dollar. This war has never been worth it.

[Rageneau]

11. I don't think it was worth the first 4000 lives, either.

The only deaths over there that haven't bothered me have been those of "contractors" and of right-wing journalists.