The US military currently has 140,000 troops in Iraq, most of whom spent the bulk of their time in reconstruction efforts, working side-by-side with Iraqis to rebuilt their country, according to the Agence France-Presse. Columnist Ken Dilanian wrote Sunday in the Phildelphia Inquirer, of his second trip to Iraq, that he still believes "the US-led effort in Iraq is accomplishing many good things, most of which get no publicity. And I still think it's too early to abandon hope that a stable and democratic Iraq will emerge from this crucible."
But he also adds that the insurgency has been much more successful than the US media has given it credit. He says most Iraqis are not seeing the progress they had anticipated, and that they are not blaming the insurgents, but the Americans. This has led to tensions on both sides, with some US troops crossing a line in their treatment of Iraqis, sometimes committing atrocities against them. On the other hand, US troops also face an increasingly dangerous situation.
One case involving US soldiers is being currently being conducted at Fort Carson in Colorado. US soldiers who pushed two Iraqis off a bridge after the men had missed a curfew were told to coverup the incident, according to three US Army commanders. The Associated Press reported over the weekend that the commanders testified under immunity Friday on the third and final day of a hearing to determine whether three soldiers will be court-martialed. One of the soliders charged in the incident had earlier testified that he had been ordered to push the men off the bridge.
Family members of the Iraqis say one of the men drowned, but the Army commanders who testified said both men made it out of the water safely. The family has offered to have the body exhumed and autopsied to prove their claim.
Marwan Hassoun said he tried to help his cousin [Zaidoun Fadel Hassoun] swim to safety, only to lose his grip as the soldiers watched and laughed. 'They were behaving like they were watching a comedy on stage,' he told AP several weeks ago ... None of the soldiers thought the men were in danger because one quickly made it to shore, [Sgt Alexis] Rincon said. He said he would not have left the scene had he known one of the men was drowning, but asked if he would have gone to the man’s aid, Rincon replied: 'I don't know about jumping in and saving him.'
One of the commanders testified that the decision to try and hide the incident was the result of a personal vendetta directed against one of the three men by their then-brigade commander. He alleged the bridgade commander in question was jealous because the other commander "was aggressive and getting television coverage."
Other stories of alleged atrocities committed by some US troops have appear in some US media. One soldier in particular, Staff Sgt. Jimmy Massey of the United States Marines Corps, a 12-year veteran who was recently honorably discharged, has been travelling the country talking about his experience. He recently spoke at a meeting in Northampton, Mass. where he told an audience that he shot non-combatants regularly. "We shot a man with his hands up," he said, "We even shot women and children."
Massey – who is under medical treatment for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder because of his experiences in Iraq – said when he went to Iraq, he was "ready to kill or be killed." He believed that to die in combat was an honor. But "firing on civilians and securing oil fields" was not the duty he signed up for, he said.
"Why are Marines learning to shut down oil wells – are we the Environmental Protection Agency now?" he asked as he told the audience of his realization that this war was not one he agreed with. He started asking questions and was reassigned to combat duty. "I'm in the desert, I'm gung-ho, ready to kill," he said, putting 'your tax dollars to work. Unfortunately, your tax dollars went into a lot of civilians. I was there. I pulled the trigger.'
Two reservists who were with Massey at the forum in Northampton, but who did not see any combat duty in Iraq, said they were "proud to serve in Iraq and would do so again if asked."
Last week the nationally syndicated progressive radio program Democracy Now! interviewed the family of Marine Reservist Jeffrey Lacey, who recently committed suicide. His family said he had told them he been ordered to shoot two Iraqi prisoners who had surrendered, and had their hands in the air, "from five feet away." They said Lacey was never able to put the incident behind him when he returned to the US.
A spokesperson for the organization, Military Families Speak Out, also interviewed on Democracy Now! says the group frequently hears stories like this from military families whose sons return from Iraq with stories about shooting non-combatants. Military Families Speak Out is an organization of people who are opposed to war in Iraq and who have relatives or loved ones in the military.
There is, however, another side to this story. The Raleigh News and Observer reports on how US troops often have to carry out the simplist mission in incredible heat and under constant danger. The Boston Globe reported on Sunday how US troops say they often find themselves in danger because Iraqi troops let them down in key combat situations.
Marines on the front lines haven't lost the stomach for the fight; in battle, they say, they feel most sure of their mission. But nearly unanimously, they say they can neither interact with Iraqis the way they had expected when they arrived with orders to win 'hearts and minds,' nor can they deal a knockout blow to guerrillas. 'Every guy you kill, there's always going to be someone else,' said Corporal Glen Handy of Las Vegas.
And The San Francisco Chronicle reports on the toll taken on US troops by the deaths of Iraqis who they have come to trust and regard as friends. The paper tells the story of Rwaida Al Shemre, who worked as an interpreter for the 3rd Battalion, 82nd Field Artillery Regiment in central Baghdad. Early in July, on her way home from work, her car was boxed in by insurgents who then shot her four times. She died before she could reach the hospital. Her US Army friends referred to her as a "running buddy." In the Army, "a running buddy is the best kind of friend. Someone you run with, hang out with."
"Her death hit me harder than anything I've experienced over here," said Capt. Evans Hanson of Houston, who worked closely with her. "Rwaida went out with troops hundreds of times and faced dangers everywhere she went," Hanson said at her memorial service. "She looked powerful men in the eye and faced them without fear, because she knew they were up to no good. No one could say she wasn't a strong woman."
Finally, Newsweek reports that an independent panel looking into the abuse of Iraqi prisoners by US troops at Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad, and headed by former CIA director James Schlesinger, is leaning toward the view that failures of command and control at the Pentagon helped create the climate in which the abuses occurred. The report, which is still in draft stage, will "assign some responsibility up the line to senior civilian officials at the Pentagon, including [Secretary of Defense Donald] Rumsfeld, several sources close to the discussions say."
Tom Regan Christian Science Monitor
But he also adds that the insurgency has been much more successful than the US media has given it credit. He says most Iraqis are not seeing the progress they had anticipated, and that they are not blaming the insurgents, but the Americans. This has led to tensions on both sides, with some US troops crossing a line in their treatment of Iraqis, sometimes committing atrocities against them. On the other hand, US troops also face an increasingly dangerous situation.
One case involving US soldiers is being currently being conducted at Fort Carson in Colorado. US soldiers who pushed two Iraqis off a bridge after the men had missed a curfew were told to coverup the incident, according to three US Army commanders. The Associated Press reported over the weekend that the commanders testified under immunity Friday on the third and final day of a hearing to determine whether three soldiers will be court-martialed. One of the soliders charged in the incident had earlier testified that he had been ordered to push the men off the bridge.
Family members of the Iraqis say one of the men drowned, but the Army commanders who testified said both men made it out of the water safely. The family has offered to have the body exhumed and autopsied to prove their claim.
Marwan Hassoun said he tried to help his cousin [Zaidoun Fadel Hassoun] swim to safety, only to lose his grip as the soldiers watched and laughed. 'They were behaving like they were watching a comedy on stage,' he told AP several weeks ago ... None of the soldiers thought the men were in danger because one quickly made it to shore, [Sgt Alexis] Rincon said. He said he would not have left the scene had he known one of the men was drowning, but asked if he would have gone to the man’s aid, Rincon replied: 'I don't know about jumping in and saving him.'
One of the commanders testified that the decision to try and hide the incident was the result of a personal vendetta directed against one of the three men by their then-brigade commander. He alleged the bridgade commander in question was jealous because the other commander "was aggressive and getting television coverage."
Other stories of alleged atrocities committed by some US troops have appear in some US media. One soldier in particular, Staff Sgt. Jimmy Massey of the United States Marines Corps, a 12-year veteran who was recently honorably discharged, has been travelling the country talking about his experience. He recently spoke at a meeting in Northampton, Mass. where he told an audience that he shot non-combatants regularly. "We shot a man with his hands up," he said, "We even shot women and children."
Massey – who is under medical treatment for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder because of his experiences in Iraq – said when he went to Iraq, he was "ready to kill or be killed." He believed that to die in combat was an honor. But "firing on civilians and securing oil fields" was not the duty he signed up for, he said.
"Why are Marines learning to shut down oil wells – are we the Environmental Protection Agency now?" he asked as he told the audience of his realization that this war was not one he agreed with. He started asking questions and was reassigned to combat duty. "I'm in the desert, I'm gung-ho, ready to kill," he said, putting 'your tax dollars to work. Unfortunately, your tax dollars went into a lot of civilians. I was there. I pulled the trigger.'
Two reservists who were with Massey at the forum in Northampton, but who did not see any combat duty in Iraq, said they were "proud to serve in Iraq and would do so again if asked."
Last week the nationally syndicated progressive radio program Democracy Now! interviewed the family of Marine Reservist Jeffrey Lacey, who recently committed suicide. His family said he had told them he been ordered to shoot two Iraqi prisoners who had surrendered, and had their hands in the air, "from five feet away." They said Lacey was never able to put the incident behind him when he returned to the US.
A spokesperson for the organization, Military Families Speak Out, also interviewed on Democracy Now! says the group frequently hears stories like this from military families whose sons return from Iraq with stories about shooting non-combatants. Military Families Speak Out is an organization of people who are opposed to war in Iraq and who have relatives or loved ones in the military.
There is, however, another side to this story. The Raleigh News and Observer reports on how US troops often have to carry out the simplist mission in incredible heat and under constant danger. The Boston Globe reported on Sunday how US troops say they often find themselves in danger because Iraqi troops let them down in key combat situations.
Marines on the front lines haven't lost the stomach for the fight; in battle, they say, they feel most sure of their mission. But nearly unanimously, they say they can neither interact with Iraqis the way they had expected when they arrived with orders to win 'hearts and minds,' nor can they deal a knockout blow to guerrillas. 'Every guy you kill, there's always going to be someone else,' said Corporal Glen Handy of Las Vegas.
And The San Francisco Chronicle reports on the toll taken on US troops by the deaths of Iraqis who they have come to trust and regard as friends. The paper tells the story of Rwaida Al Shemre, who worked as an interpreter for the 3rd Battalion, 82nd Field Artillery Regiment in central Baghdad. Early in July, on her way home from work, her car was boxed in by insurgents who then shot her four times. She died before she could reach the hospital. Her US Army friends referred to her as a "running buddy." In the Army, "a running buddy is the best kind of friend. Someone you run with, hang out with."
"Her death hit me harder than anything I've experienced over here," said Capt. Evans Hanson of Houston, who worked closely with her. "Rwaida went out with troops hundreds of times and faced dangers everywhere she went," Hanson said at her memorial service. "She looked powerful men in the eye and faced them without fear, because she knew they were up to no good. No one could say she wasn't a strong woman."
Finally, Newsweek reports that an independent panel looking into the abuse of Iraqi prisoners by US troops at Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad, and headed by former CIA director James Schlesinger, is leaning toward the view that failures of command and control at the Pentagon helped create the climate in which the abuses occurred. The report, which is still in draft stage, will "assign some responsibility up the line to senior civilian officials at the Pentagon, including [Secretary of Defense Donald] Rumsfeld, several sources close to the discussions say."
Tom Regan Christian Science Monitor
