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Several weeks ago, I tried to give my own thoughts on why we are in Iraq, but I will freely admit that my blog didn’t do justice to my thoughts on the conflict, or the true reasons to be there.
So I will try again. But this time, I am going to cheat, and send you to another blog to find the answer. This blog is run by Michael Yon, a writer who is completely independent from any news organization - magazine, radio, television, or online organization. He is his own man without any strings attached to anyone, and he has done this at great harm to his own financial health. He has been offered numerous writing and correspondence jobs, along with book deals and TV shows. He has turned them all down, because he believes very strongly that he must be independent, not beholden to anyone or any company, free to tell the truth and not spin it or sugarcoat it based on how the execs would want him to.
Right now, he is in Iraq, covering the Iraqi War. In his latest dispatch, just released yesterday, he talks about going along with an Army division into a village that had been small, sleepy, and peaceful, until al Qaeda came in. Michael is a photographer along with being a writer, and his pictures truly are worth a 1000 words. This dispatch is heartbreaking, and so very, very real. Ladies and gentlemen, this is why we must stay in Iraq. This is why we cannot just pull out, tuck our tail between our legs, and run. al Qaeda is evil, more evil than I can truly even grasp. The tactics that they use in their war against the Iraqi people and against us are stunning in their depravity. Michael Yon talks al Qaeda’s willingness to do anything to hurt others, that they will kill animals and children, and then plant bombs in their bodies so that if a soldier or family member comes over to pick up the body, they die too. I cannot imagine what kind of black soulless horrible, evil being (I almost doubt them being human) that someone would have to be, to do something like that.
But, Michael can say all of this much better than I can, so I strongly suggest you reading Bless the Beasts and Children to find out for yourself how things truly are in Iraq, and who the true enemy is. The MSM and crazy liberals like Rosie O Donnell like to say that the true enemy is the American soldiers and the leaders of our government. After reading this article, such statements make me sick to my stomach. You cannot read this blog and look at these photos, and then say that our American troops are the “real terrorists” as Rosie tried to say. This shows who the true enemy is, and helps remind all of us just how important this war is.
While you’re over there, check out the “How This Project is Funded” page - hint, it isn’t through big book deals or multi-million dollar contracts. If you found his blog to be inspired, and exactly what this country needs right now, then I suggest dropping a couple of dollars in his PayPal account to help encourage him and keep him funded. Because I write for a living too, I notice the small things, like the fact that he has no Google AdSense ads anywhere on his site. He doesn’t have any corporate sponsors. He doesn’t have any Text-Link-Ads. He doesn’t even have the Donate Now! PayPal button displayed prominently on his blog (which is why I linked directly to the page - to make it easier for you to find). For someone who is entirely self-funded, he isn’t doing any of the “normal” things a writer usually does. As far as I can tell, his only income is the sales of his book, the sales of his pictures (you should see them - absolutely amazing!) and then donations from people like you and I. This is one project that I think almost anyone could feel good about donating to, because he doesn’t write his stories to the left or to the right, but instead does what the mainstream media is supposed to do - he just reports the facts.
Check out his blog, and then make a donation if you can. This unvarnished honesty is just we need in America today.
God bless you, Michael, and keep you safe.
Hava
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9:21 pm on July 2nd, 2007 1
Hi Hava
I was wondering, have you traveled much? It really does broaden the mind. I have lived in Europe, African and now America.
People are the same everywhere. They want a fair days pay for a fair days work, freedom to worship their god and food in their bellies. If you deny them these things there will be unhappiness, death and destruction.
I see you distrust the MSM, that is good. I have a healthy distrust in everything. My mother is a good God fearing woman and she taught me from a young age to doubt the establishment. I read newspapers from all over the world now to get my own perspective from multiple sources - you should try it.
The meek should be helped not blown up and killed, not robbed and deprived.
Peace
Pat
9:42 pm on July 2nd, 2007 2
Thanks for the comment!
Actually, if you read the “About Me” above, you’ll see that my father was in the Marine Corps, which meant that as a child, I lived in a lot of different places, including three years in Japan. Then when I went to college, I spent a semester abroad in Jerusalem, and also traveled to Jordan and Egypt while in the Middle East. I have seen a lot of this world, although the funny part is, I haven’t seen our neighbors here on the North American continent, either Canada or Mexico! lol! For all of the traveling I’ve done, I haven’t seen our neighbors, and that is something I hope to remedy someday. 
“People are the same everywhere. They want a fair days pay for a fair days work, freedom to worship their god and food in their bellies. If you deny them these things there will be unhappiness, death and destruction.”
I wholeheartedly agree. There are some real horrible people out there, terrorists who want nothing but death and destruction, and they won’t be happy with anything else; fortunately, 99% of the world is not like that. That was one of the things that tore at my heart when I read this article. The village that the reporter goes with the military to had been a quiet town, a town full of farmers and families who wanted nothing but to be left alone. Al Qaeda came in, took the village over, killed the people, and left them behind in shallow graves for us to find. The farmers did not ask to be slaughtered, but Al Qaeda did it anyway. Al Qaeda is a part of that 1% who only want the absolute worst to happen, and would not be content even if we pulled out of Iraq today and let them kill and maim everyone in sight. They would still come after us in America. They are Evil, true Evil.
“I read newspapers from all over the world now to get my own perspective from multiple sources - you should try it.”
That’s actually what I am doing with reading the column by Michael Yon. He is reporting what is happening on the ground, and giving us the true perspective on what is happening on the ground, something you are not going to find in the MSM. I hope everyone shares a link to this blog with their friends, family, and neighbors, because I think it’s that important.
“The meek should be helped not blown up and killed, not robbed and deprived.”
Yes, exactly. We need to be there to protect the meek, the farmers with their donkeys and their wives and their children who just want their land and their peace, who want to be free from the terrorists who are trying to overtake their country. We cannot leave Iraq, and leave them helpless against the onslaught of terrorists pouring into that country.
Again, to any of my readers, if you haven’t gone and read the blog I linked to above, you should definitely do it today, and then share the link with others. We need to get the word out about this important blog as much as we possibly can.
God bless,
Hava
10:55 pm on July 2nd, 2007 3
You go, girl. Great post, great points — and nice to see someone else directing readers to Yon’s work.
And I can’t help but respond to the first person’s comments, as well. Human nature is such that “people” as a mass are the same everywhere, with a capacity for good or evil, but individuals and even groups are not all the same. Terrorist extremists do NOT want the same things everyone else wants. They don’t care at all about having fair pay and freedom of worship. They have stated repeatedly that what they want is everyone either converts to Islam or they die — they state it clearly and repeatedly. Hava has got it right.
So thanks, Hava. And God bless you, as well.
12:18 am on July 3rd, 2007 4
Interesting, isn’t it, how the thought of planting a booby-trapped body for an enemy soldier to find and be injured by disgusts you, but you fail utterly to mention the industry of rationally designing nuclear warheads, laser-guided bombs and heat-seeking missiles as equally abhorrent. That’s perfectly revealing about your ethics.
4:36 am on July 3rd, 2007 5
I’m a soldier and have been to Iraq, my wife is there now. I’ve spent years in the middle east as well. People definitely are not the same everywhere you go and that type of thinking is what has us fouling this whole thing up. Americans look at Iraqi’s as they do themselves and that in itself is a grave mistake. One reporters story in one area doesn’t give you a grasp of the whole country. The people, mood, angst against Americans, desire to be free and the desire for things to be like they were with Saddam vary completely from small town to small town. There’s no one big solution to fixing Iraq like everyone wants and for those who’s minds cannot grasp the complexity of the people seem to need. Our leaders made terrible errors planning and deciding on this whole thing, that is the only thing completely obvious anymore. The bottom line is OUR actions or lack thereof led to the mess it is today. There is no total military solution. Our brute sized force and bombings lead to more uprising and hate with each mistake we make or civilian killed in “collateral damage”. We can either start to use our brains on this one and realize the scale of the military there is too large or we can just sit there for decades, losing thousands of lives on both ends and achieve not a damn thing but a fear induced police state. I’m not a conservative or a liberal, so please don’t classify me as such. That type of black and white thinking doesn’t work when the rest of the world is gray.
Terrorism has to be defeated, not fueled. I think all these politicians who think they know how to handle Iraq are sad. Some of them may visit and be uber protected and then think they understand the place but that’s all garbage, they’re clueless. One side says send more, the other says get them all out. Neither side has a clue.
4:41 am on July 3rd, 2007 6
Oh, and so far of the candidates we have to choose from, Mitt Romney does seem like about the only one I’d vote for at this stage in the game regardless of political affiliation. He has a lot of learning to do though when comes to Iraq, but that’s the case for the lot of them.
5:33 am on July 3rd, 2007 7
I wanted to comment on your “Our Presence In Iraq” entry but there’s no option so I’ll do that here.
I cannot expect you to understand the place because you haven’t been there and all your information is second hand but if you think there’s some plot for the “terrorists” (which is one happy word for dozens of different groups operating in Iraq and all with different agendas) to take over the oil fields when we leave you sadly don’t get this whole thing much at all. The “terrorists” are concentrated around US troop concentrations and places of Sunni/Shiite unrest. The oil rich areas were some of the first secured and are in large the least hostile areas. Oil and corporate greed does play a part in all this whether we want to admit it or not, but your driving habits I’m sad to say don’t change a thing. Our excessive use of oil in large is a whole different discussion which I’ll leave for another time. Any oil money funding terrorism definitely has no need for Iraq’s oil. Since Saudi money has funded a lot of the actual terrorism against the west so you’re digging in the wrong backyard on that one. A lot of the money is also homegrown right in the US, yes our own country which we are for some reason neglecting quite a bit when it comes to rooting out actual terrorists.
You talk about it being “our duty” to rebuild Iraq. I wish you could spend some time there and see just how unmotivated and lazy most Iraqis are. This isn’t any American Revolutionary War and we definitely aren’t the French. Decades spent under a tyrant we helped put in power has made them a very apathetic people and for that they cannot be blamed. No one really knows how to light a fire in the Iraqi people themselves. The only successful way of quelling the sectarian unrest has been unjust force brought by Saddam so most people there lack the ability to see any other solution. The ones that do are either policeman/soldiers risking life, politicians or have fled the country. The fact that you think “we” can build Iraq as a republic (another western idea) is really quite a farce and show how little understanding you have of the region.
I’m really not trying to insult you at all, merely educate you that most of the information you have is biased. Here’s a paragraph below from your entry.
“Right now, America needs to help Iraq build a republic where the person with the most bombs or guns doesn’t win, but instead the best person for the job. We owe it to ourselves, for stability and freedom in our country, but we also owe it to the Iraqi people. We went in there. We caused Saddam’s regime to fall. We now have to help another government to rise, or we will have failed. Failed not only the Iraqi people, but the future generations of Americans. For the security of our nation, we must stick it out, we must win.”
I’m sorry, but the above is just one huge gob of practiced lines, politicians lies, campaign slogans and nonsense. If you really believe the above statement with all your being you really don’t understand the religions, social structure and desires of Iraq one bit. For the security of our nation we need to do just that, secure OUR nation, not everyone else’s. There will ALWAYS be countries and people that despise our way of life and we very well can’t go around and force them all into an American style democracy which many countries view as a failed one. Goes back to my people are not the same everywhere you go statement. The more of an attempt we make to understand people and reach out intelligently, the fewer of people like me, who are doing their duty without question will have to die on a false pretense.
9:09 am on July 3rd, 2007 8
Two things, first, Hava, congrats on cracking the top 20 of Wordpress’ Growing Blogs today. Good work,
Second, in response to Drew, It sounds as if you have been there, that is great and thanks for serving. I just separated from the service, I never deployed, I did Intel support from the States. Anyway, I have talked with many many Soldiers and Airmen who were in Iraq, generally I think they would agree that many Iraqi’s are fairly lazy, but not to the extent that you try to make them out to be, nevertheless, that is a problem. The one thing that I have a problem with is that you imply in your comment that if we leave the terrorists will too. You are plain wrong there. If we leave too soon Iraq will become another Somalia. A land of tribal clashes where the most ruthless rule. It will be a humanitarian disaster. Not to mention the other damage it will do to American interests and our credibility world-wide. The only thing that could hurt our credibility more than what has already occurred is if we let Iraq completely fall apart because of political ambition and winning votes. We will go from being viewed as an imperial, power hungry country to an imperial power hungry coward country. In this case, I will take the lesser of two evils, I would rather not be a coward. Also, leaving too soon would only embolden terrorists world wide and convince them that we are weak, thus increasing the likelihood for more terrorist attacks.
9:46 am on July 3rd, 2007 9
I’m not for a complete withdraw, nor did i say or mean to imply that fewer troops equals some sort of quick fix. What I did mean to imply was that Soldiers cannot build Iraq or settle sectarian differences. Fewer American targets for the insurgents is something clerics and even Petraeus has said will most likely help start the sectarian mending. Now to the actual Al Qaeda there who kill anyone, they must be stopped.
Yes, there’s a lot of them that are that lazy, when you’ve spent a couple years training Iraqi soldiers yourself I’ll let you tell me otherwise. But since you never deployed, I don’t expect you’d know.
I was also in Somalia from april to october of 1993. That is such a different place than Iraq I don’t even care to spend the time going into it.
I’m sure oil contracts will be no issue so what other interests? Permanent residence? As for credibility, I’m sorry my friend but that was shot years ago and most intelligent people and nations realize it’s our government and not the entire country. That whole “we’re gonna look like cowards” is just political pandering to gain support form people who do not understand global affairs.
I know you were in the service but never being there and losing any friends in combat makes a difference in the thought process. You seem to be more concerned with the countries image, I’m more concerned with the lives of those I serve with to include my wife. Thanks for the reply, but I disagree with you on almost every point, and I base that on experience.
8:01 pm on July 4th, 2007 10
Hi Hava
You missed my point completely on Michael Yon, he is an embedded reporter with a narrow view of the situation. He can’t supply an objective opinion - his truth is only his truth it has no perspective. I have read his blog and he is right about what he sees but he is suffering from a form of Stockholm syndrome. If you wanted a balanced view you need to hear from other sources.
Where I really was going was expand your point of reference outside of American generated media. Read “The Guardian” - http://www.guardian.co.uk, “The Irish Times” - http://www.ireland.com, listen to BBC World News, RTE or any english speaking news from Europe. It can be a little boring, long winded and nuanced but you will see multiple positions and hear debate you will never hear in any media here.
My country was divided by a stupid immoral war for 37 years and it has now broken the post-colonial shackles with economic success.
The success of the Peace Process in Ireland has more to do with economics than any other single issue. Bigoted Orangemen and misguided republicans have put aside their incredible differences because money can now be made without a bullet or a bomb.
I agree that with drawl from Iraq would be an unmitigated disaster but continuation down this futile path is almost as bad. There needs to be transparency interests - Why exactly is America there? It is not to find WMD, it is not to spread democracy, it is not to remove a dictator (could have done that through other means) but is it for a permanent presence? A buffer between Russian, China and the Gulf. I have come to believe that this is true situation. Political connections have confirmed that this is the goal and no-one ever talks about it, shame. We need truth and then we can attempt to solve the problem.
I’m afraid Mitt seems uninterested the truth.
Peace
Pat