A Soldier Speaks: Where's The Outrage?

I.C.H. presents A View Of Iraq From A Soldier:

The purpose of this message is to voice my concern that we were misled into war and continue to be misled about the situation! in Iraq every day. My opinions on this matter come from what I witnessed in Iraq personally... I participated in the invasion, stayed in Iraq for a year afterward, and what I witnessed was the total opposite of what President Bush and his Administration stated to the American People.

The invasion was very confusing, and so was the period of time I spent in Iraq afterward... During my year in Iraq I had many altercations with the so-called "insurgency." I found the insurgency I saw to be quite different from the insurgency described to the American people by the Bush Administration, the media, and other supporters of the war...

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. Thousands of people took to the streets to attack us. As the riot unfolded before my eyes, I realized these were just the people who lived there. There were men, women, and children participating...

I remember going home that night and praying to God, thanking him that I was still alive. A few months earlier President Bush made the statement, "Bring it on" when referring to the attacks on Americans by the insurgency. To me, that felt like a personal invitation to the insurgents to attack me and my friends who desperately wanted to make it home alive...

I remember the day I left there were hundreds of Iraqis in the streets outside the compound that I lived in. They watched as we moved out to the Baghdad Airport to finally go home. The Iraqis cheered, clapped, and shouted with joy as we were leaving.

Another 14 US soldiers will come home in the next few days, lying stiff in their flag-draped coffins. Where's the outrage?

Of the 14 men who were killed, not one was named Bush, or Cheney or Rumsfeld. They were all just grunts doing their jobs; fighting for their country. Or, so they thought. Not one of them joined the fray to fight to defend the torture chambers at Guantanamo or Abu Ghraib. Not one of them fought to make Iraq safe for Halliburton, or Bechtel, or Exxon. Not one fought to increase domestic surveillance and intrusive big government like the Patriot Act. Not one fought to shift more of the nation's wealth into the pockets of the blood-sucking parasite class to which Bush belongs. Not one fought to ensure that Bush and his war-mongering cadres could continue to flatten whole cities, poison the water, devastate the economy, steal their oil, destroy their society, and kill and imprison their people. Not one. Every one of them fought and died because they loved their country and they trusted their leaders not to lie to them.

Bush won't be there when the plane touches down in Dover tomorrow; way too busy. It'll just be the bereaved families; the devastated parents, the bewildered children the inconsolable wives and lovers. The normal collection of average people whose lives end the moment they get word that their son was killed in battle. That's all; just normal people; just shattered lives. End of story. They get a flag, and the Commander-in-Chief gets a nice long ride on his mountain-bike. Fair enough.

What'll it take to enrage the American people, to send them into the streets, to hurl them against the White House gates, to bang on their pots and pans until the politicians scramble for their bunkers? And, when will the people gather en masse in front of the Time-Warner Building, and FOX News, and MSNBC, and CNN; rattling the windows and pounding on the doors.

We don't want their war anymore; we don't want their news anymore; we don't want them anymore. Get out! Leave! Kill someone else's sons and daughters. Steal someone else's wealth. Ruin someone else's country. Just get out!

14 Marines killed in Iraq; just another footnote in the Crawford Times that Bush can pass over on his way to the sports page.

There's no place in hell hot enough for the likes of these people.

I was discussing this issue - where's the outrage? - with my friend Winter Patriot via email recently. We have both spent time in Latin America, where democracies may be buried in corruption, but at least the people make their voices heard when the situation absolutely requires it.

For example, see this post from Winter Patriot's blog.

Winter Patriot has now initiated a Whispering Campaign to get rid of Bush & Co. The idea is for people (like you!) to leave printed material around the place, in an effort to educate their friends and neighbours about the Bush cabal's various high crimes and misdemeanours. WP suggests leaving scraps of printed information at cafes, airports and so forth.

So if you are not prepared to camp out on the White House lawns, march through the streets, or lean out the window and shout at the top of your lungs "I'M MAD AS HELL AND I'M NOT GONNA TAKE IT ANY MORE!!!", you can at least do this, right?

UPDATE: Cindy Sheehan and the Gold Star Families for Peace are heading out to protest outside Bush's Crawford Ranch, from this Saturday, August 6th at 11:00 am:

GSFP will be joined by members of Veteran's for Peace (VFP), Military Families Speak Out (MFSO), Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW), Code Pink, and Crawford Peace House.

We GSFP members will not leave until we get answers from George Bush. We deserve and expect him to welcome us with answers to as why our loved ones are dead.

Every worker for peace, every worker for justice, every person who wants our country back are welcomed to join us on Saturday. Show George Bush that we mean business. Be there to support us family members who have already been through so much. We are fighting for our country, our world, especially the children.

Crawford is about 2 hours from Dallas where the VFP Convention is being held this weekend. There will be car pools from the convention.

HONOR OUR LOVED ONE'S SACRIFICES: BRING OUR TROOPS HOME NOW!!!!

Bring water and hats...we plan on staying until we are arrested or satisfied with the answers. (I am betting on jail).

Please pass this email on to your friends, lists, and media.