by Larry C. Johnson (bio below)
I received the following from a retired Army officer who in turn received it from another military buddy. It provides an excellent ground level view of what U.S. Marines are experiencing in Western Iraq.
It accurately reflects the view of our soldiers that they are “winning” the ground game. Unfortunately, they are thinking conventionally about an unconventional war. In a conventional war you degrade an opposing army’s capabilities by killing and wounding the officiers and soldiers. Kill enough and the opposing army will surrender. However, that tactic is not effective against an unconventional insurgent war. A metric such as body counts does not provide a good measure of the decline of insurgent capabilities.
Defeating insurgents also requires a political solution, one that cannot be imposed by force alone unless one is ready to commit mass murder.
I have no doubt our soldiers and marines believe they are winning on the ground. Nonetheless, as is acknowledged in this email, the U.S. does not have enough troops on the ground to deal effectively with the threat.
I disagree with the notion that the media is getting the story wrong or that the media is somehow to blame because things are not going well on the ground. Despite our military’s success in killing and capturing insurgents, we still do not have effective control over key parts of the country.
As I have said many times before, our inability to keep the road from downtown Baghdad to the International Airport open is an unfortunate reminder that we still don’t control Iraq.
Update [2005-11-10 9:9:31 by susanhu]: On his blog, Pat Lang has published a rebuttal to the assessments below, beginning with: “Someone said it upthread that this is a tactical view of the scene lacking in operational/strategic dimension. That is very true. The commentary that the bulk of insurgency is made up of foreign fighters is disturbing. But, it is unrealistic. …”
BEGIN THE MARINE’S ASSESSMENT:
This from a former Marine first sergeant, whose son recently returned from Iraq – (the boy is home from his first tour, going back in early 2006, and early re-enlisted for another 4 years).
Also below: Rating U.S. weapons … Bad guy weapons … Who are the bad guys? … Bad Guy Tactics
Hello to all my fellow gunners, military buffs, veterans and interested guys. A couple of weekends ago I got to spend time with my son Semper Fi, who was on his first leave since returning from Iraq. He is well (a little thin), and already bored. He will be returning to Iraq for a second tour in early ’06 and has already re-enlisted early for 4 more years. He loves the Marine Corps and is actually looking forward to returning to Iraq.
Semper Fi spent 7 months at “Camp Blue Diamond” in Ramada. Aka: Fort Apache. He saw and did a lot and the following is what he told me about weapons, equipment, tactics and other miscellaneous info which may be of interest to you. Nothing is by any means classified. No politics here, just a Marine with a bird’s eye view’s opinions:
- The M-16 rifle : Thumbs down. Chronic jamming problems with the talcum powder like sand over there. The sand is everywhere. Semper Fi says you feel filthy 2 minutes after coming out of the shower. The M-4 carbine version is more popular because it’s lighter and shorter, but it has jamming problems also. They like the ability to mount the various optical gunsights and weapons lights on the picattiny rails, but the weapon itself is not great in a desert environment. They all hate the 5.56mm (.223) round. Poor penetration on the cinderblock structure common over there and even torso hits cant be reliably counted on to put the enemy down. Fun fact: Random autopsies on dead insurgents shows a high level of opiate use.
- The M243 SAW (squad assault weapon): .223 cal. Drum fed light machine gun. Big thumbs down. Universally considered a piece of shit. Chronic jamming problems, most of which require partial disassembly. (that’s fun in the middle of a firefight).
- The M9 Beretta 9mm: Mixed bag. Good gun, performs well in desert environment; but they all hate the 9mm cartridge. The use of handguns for self-defense is actually fairly common. Same old story on the 9mm: Bad guys hit multiple times and still in the fight.
- Mossberg 12ga. Military shotgun: Works well, used frequently for clearing houses to good effect.
- The M240 Machine Gun: 7.62 Nato (.308) cal. belt fed machine gun, developed to replace the old M-60 (what a beautiful weapon that was!!). Thumbs up. Accurate, reliable, and the 7.62 round puts ’em down. Originally developed as a vehicle mounted weapon, more and more are being dismounted and taken into the field by infantry. The 7.62 round chews up the structure over there.
- The M2 .50 cal heavy machine gun: Thumbs way, way up. “Ma deuce” is still worth her considerable weight in gold. The ultimate fight stopper, puts their dicks in the dirt every time. The most coveted weapon in-theater.
- The .45 pistol: Thumbs up. Still the best pistol round out there. Everybody authorized to carry a sidearm is trying to get their hands on one. With few exceptions, can reliably be expected to put ’em down with a torso hit. The special ops guys (who are doing most of the pistol work) use the HK military model and supposedly love it. The old government model .45’s are being re-issued en masse.
- The M-14: Thumbs up. They are being re-issued in bulk, mostly in a modified version to special ops guys. Modifications include lightweight Kevlar stocks and low power red dot or ACOG sights. Very reliable in the sandy environment, and they love the 7.62 round.
- The Barrett .50 cal sniper rifle: Thumbs way up. Spectacular range and accuracy and hits like a freight train. Used frequently to take out vehicle suicide bombers ( we actually stop a lot of them) and barricaded enemy. Definitely here to stay.
- The M24 sniper rifle: Thumbs up. Mostly in .308 but some in 300 win mag. Heavily modified Remington 700’s. Great performance. Snipers have been used heavily to great effect. Rumor has it that a marine sniper on his third tour in Anbar province has actually exceeded Carlos Hathcock’s record for confirmed kills with OVER 100.
- The new body armor: Thumbs up. Relatively light at approx. 6 lbs. and can reliably be expected to soak up small shrapnel and even will stop an AK-47 round. The bad news: Hot as shit to wear, almost
unbearable in the summer heat (which averages over 120 degrees). Also, the enemy now goes for head shots whenever possible. All the bullshit about the “old” body armor making our guys vulnerable to the IED’s was a non-starter. The IED explosions are enormous and body armor doesn’t make any difference at all in most cases.
- Night Vision and Infrared Equipment: Thumbs way up. Spectacular performance. Our guys see in the dark and own the night, period. Very little enemy action after evening prayers. More and more enemy being whacked at night during movement by our hunter-killer teams. We’ve all seen the videos.
- Lights: Thumbs up. Most of the weapon mounted and personal lights are Surefire’s, and the troops love ’em. Invaluable for night urban operations. Semper Fi carried a $34 Surefire G2 on a neck lanyard and loved it.
I can’t help but notice that most of the good fighting weapons and ordnance are 50 or more years old!!!!!!!!! With all our technology, it’s the WWII and Vietnam era weapons that everybody wants!!!! The infantry fighting is frequent, up close and brutal. No quarter is given or shown.
Bad guy weapons:
- Mostly AK47’s The entire country is an arsenal. Works better in the desert than the M16 and the .308 Russian round kills reliably. PKM belt fed light machine guns are also common and effective. Luckily, the
enemy mostly shoots like shit. Undisciplined “spray and pray” type fire. However, they are seeing more and more precision weapons, especially sniper rifles. (Iran, again) Fun fact: Captured enemy have
apparently marveled at the marksmanship of our guys and how hard they fight. They are apparently told at Jihadi Tech that the Americans rely solely on technology, and can be easily beaten in close quarters combat for their lack of toughness. Let’s just say they know better now.
- The RPG: Probably the infantry weapon most feared by our guys. Simple, reliable and as common as dogshit. The enemy responded to our up-armored humvees by aiming at the windshields, often at point blank range. Still killing a lot of our guys.
- The IED: The biggest killer of all. Can be anything from old Soviet anti-armor mines to jury rigged artillery shells. A lot found in Semper Fi’s area were in abandoned cars. The enemy would take 2 or 3 155mm artillery shells and wire them together. Most were detonated by cell phone, and the explosions are enormous. You’re not safe in any vehicle, even an M1 tank. Driving is by far the most dangerous thing our guys do over there. Lately, they are using much more sophisticated “shaped charges”
(Iranian) specifically designed to penetrate armor. Fact: Most of the ready made IED’s are supplied by Iran, who is also providing terrorists (Hezbollah types) to train the insurgents in their use and tactics.
That’s why the attacks have been so deadly lately. Their concealment methods are ingenious, the latest being shaped charges in styrofoam containers spray painted to look like the cinderblocks that litter all
Iraqi roads. We find about 40% before they detonate, and the bomb disposal guys are unsung heroes of this war.
- Mortars and rockets: Very prevalent. The Soviet era 122mm rockets (with an 18km range) are becoming more prevalent. One of Semper Fi’s NCO’s lost a leg to one. These weapons cause a lot of damage “inside the wire”. Semper Fi’s base was hit almost daily his entire time there by mortar and rocket fire, often at night to disrupt sleep patterns and cause fatigue (It did). More of a psychological weapon than anything else. The enemy mortar teams would jump out of vehicles, fire a few rounds, and then haul ass in a matter of seconds.
- Bad guy technology: Simple yet effective. Most communication is by cell and satellite phones, and also by email on laptops. They use handheld GPS units for navigation and “Google earth” for overhead views of our positions. Their weapons are good, if not fancy, and easily obtained. Their explosives and bomb technology is TOP OF THE LINE. Night vision technology is rare. They are very careless with their equipment and the captured GPS units and laptops are treasure troves of Intel when captured.
Who are the bad guys?
Most of the carnage is caused by the Zarqawi–Al Qaeda group. They operate mostly in Anbar province (Fallujah and Ramadi). These are mostly “foreigners”, non-Iraqi Sunni Arab Jihadists from all over the
Muslim world (and Europe).
Most enter Iraq through Syria (with, of course, the knowledge and complicity of the Syrian Govt.) , and then travel down the “rat line” which is the trail of towns along the
Euphrates River that we’ve been hitting hard for the last few months. Some are virtually untrained young Jihadists that often end up as suicide bombers or in “sacrifice squads”. Most, however, are hard core terrorists from all the usual suspects (Al Qaeda, Hezbollah, Hamas, etc.) These are the guys running around murdering civilians en masse and cutting heads off.
The Chechens (many of whom are Caucasian), are supposedly the most ruthless and the best fighters. (they have been fighting the Russians for years).
In the Baghdad area and south, most of the insurgents are Iranian inspired (and led) Iraqi Shiites. The Iranian Shiia have been very adept at infiltrating the Iraqi local govt.’s, the police forces and the Army. The have had a massive spy and agitator network there since the Iran-Iraq war in the early 80’s. Most of the Saddam loyalists were killed, captured or gave up long ago.
Bad Guy Tactics:
When they are engaged on an infantry level they get their asses kicked every time. Brave, but stupid. Suicidal Banzai-type charges were very common earlier in the war and still occur. They will literally
sacrifice 8-10 man teams in suicide squads by sending them screaming and firing Ak’s and RPG’s directly at our bases just to probe the defenses. They get mowed down like grass every time (see the M2 and M240 above). Semper Fi’s base was hit like this often.
When engaged, they have a tendency to flee to the same building, probably for what they think will be a glorious last stand. Instead, we call in air and that’s the end of that more often than not.
These hole-ups are referred to as Alpha Whiskey Romeo’s (Allah’s Waiting Room). We have the laser guided ground-air thing down to a science. The fast movers, mostly Marine F-18’s, are taking an ever increasing toll on the enemy. When caught out in the open, the helicopter gunships and AC-130 Spectre gunships cut them to ribbons with cannon and rocket fire, especially at night. Interestingly, artillery is hardly used at all. Fun fact: The enemy death toll is supposedly between 45-50 thousand. That is why we’re seeing less and less infantry attacks and more IED, suicide bomber shit. The new strategy is simple: attrition.
The insurgent tactic most frustrating is their use of civilian non-combatants as cover. They know we do all we can to avoid civilian casualties and therefore schools, hospitals and (especially) Mosques are
locations where they meet, stage for attacks, cache weapons and ammo and flee to when engaged.
They have absolutely no regard whatsoever for civilian casualties. They will terrorize locals and murder without hesitation anyone believed to be sympathetic to the Americans or the new Iraqi govt. Kidnapping of family members (especially children) is common to influence people they are trying to influence but can’t reach, such as local govt. officials, clerics, tribal leaders, etc.).
The first thing our guys are told is “don’t get captured”. They know that if captured they will be tortured and beheaded on the internet. Zarqawi openly offers bounties for anyone who brings him a live American serviceman. This motivates the criminal element who otherwise don’t give a shit about the war. A lot of the beheading victims were actually kidnapped by common criminals and sold to Zarqawi. As such, for our guys, every fight is to the death. Surrender is not an option.
The Iraqis are a mixed bag. Some fight well, others aren’t worth a shit. Most do okay with American support. Finding leaders is hard, but they are getting better.
It is widely viewed that Zarqawi’s use of
suicide bombers, en masse, against the civilian population was a serious tactical mistake. Many Iraqis were galvanized and the caliber of recruits in the Army and the police forces went up, along with their
motivation. It also led to an exponential increase in good intel because the Iraqi’s are sick of the insurgent attacks against civilians. The Kurds are solidly pro-American and fearless fighters.
According to the marine, morale among our guys is very high. They not only believe they are winning, but that they are winning decisively. They are stunned and dismayed by what they see in the American press, whom they almost universally view as against them.
The embedded reporters are despised and distrusted. They are inflicting casualties at a rate of 20-1 and then see shit like “Are we losing in Iraq” on TV and the print media. For the most part, they are satisfied with their equipment, food and leadership.
Bottom line though, and they all say this, there are not enough guys there to drive the final stake through the heart of the insurgency, primarily because there aren’t enough troops in-theater
to shut down the borders with Iran and Syria. The Iranians and the Syrians just can’t stand the thought of Iraq being an American ally (with, of course, permanent US bases there).
Conclusion of e-mail from marine.
Update [2005-11-10 9:9:31 by susanhu]: On his blog, Pat Lang has published a rebuttal to the assessments below, beginning with: “Someone said it upthread that this is a tactical view of the scene lacking in operational/strategic dimension. That is very true. The commentary that the bulk of insurgency is made up of foreign fighters is disturbing. But, it is unrealistic. …”
……………………………………………………..
Larry C. Johnson is CEO and co-founder of BERG Associates, LLC, an international business-consulting firm that helps corporations and governments manage threats posed by terrorism and money laundering. Mr. Johnson, who worked previously with the Central Intelligence Agency and U.S. State Department’s Office of Counter Terrorism (as a Deputy Director), is a recognized expert in the fields of terrorism, aviation security, crisis and risk management. Mr. Johnson has analyzed terrorist incidents for a variety of media including the Jim Lehrer News Hour, National Public Radio, ABC’s Nightline, NBC’s Today Show, the New York Times, CNN, Fox News, and the BBC. Mr. Johnson has authored several articles for publications, including Security Management Magazine, the New York Times, and The Los Angeles Times. He has lectured on terrorism and aviation security around the world. Further bio details.
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on our apparent use of white phosphorus as an incendiary weapon against civilians?
Obviously it’s despicable. And the conversation should stop there, but it won’t. So I’m curious if you know whether this is truly unprecedented, widespread, and still ongoing. Thanks for any insight you have.
Dear Ubikkibu
I hope you don’t think I’m a total Neanderthal. Frankly, the whole flap over white phosphorus aka Willy Pete, puzzles the hell out of me. It has been in our arsenal for years and used in combat for years. If you’ve seen Mel Gibson’s movie, We Were Soldiers, there is a scene where a North Vietnamese soldier throws a Willy Pete hand grenade at a US soldier. The only way you can stop the burning is to submerge the affected part in water.
My point is this. Whether you use a bullet or Willy Pete you are killing people. I think there is a lot of hypocrisy in our condemnation of what Saddam Hussein did in order to protect his country from the Iranians. The basic point is we should not send our soldiers into war unless we’re willing to pay the whole price, including the descent into hell.
Best
LJ
Something important in Juan Cole’s piece on this yesterday was that, historically, this kind of weapon has been used a long time. It was used by the U.S. in WWII (Dresden) and it was used by the British against the Iraqis in _ going blank on the date … when the British / Winston Churchill beat the crap out of the Iraqis.
the other night, I watched a PBS documentary on the WWII fight against the Japanese … they showed footage of U.S. soldiers blasting fire into the caves where Japanese soldiers and civilians were hiding.
None of that is okay with me. And I think we all have a particular fear of being burned…. so it’s particularly difficult to imagine our own soldiers doing this.
but are such weapons illegal? Juan Cole wasn’t sure in his piece yesterday.
Not measures of the inner boundaries of acceptable war practices.
As a little boy I lived above one of those cliffs in Okinawa. It was fresh and beautiful up there, flowery lawns surrounded by an endless pinstripe Pacific. The drive up was as exciting as take-off, steep narrow switchbacks through massive angular boulders like the collapsed castle of a dragon. The approach was called Suicide Cliff. Kamikaze. It’s what some mean stoics chose, the name implied, to burn in hell if they couldn’t command that view. Or maybe they were just imitation mean, had no access to the why, no plans for peace.
The actual meaning is clear:
1.Bottom line though, and they all say this, there are not enough guys there to drive the final stake through the heart of the insurgency,
Since we have no additional troops to call up, this means “we can not win” which means “we lose” in a war of occupation.
2. primarily because there aren’t enough troops in-theater to shut down the borders with Iran and Syria.
Take a look at the map. This means “even if we had 200K more troops, we would be fucked”.
3. The Iranians and the Syrians just can’t stand the thought of Iraq being an American ally (with, of course, permanent US bases there)..
Translation: Even if we had 200K more troops and they could seal the border, we’d be in a permanent war.
Reads just like a pre-war article in The Nation
what do I know?
But for you to brush off these kinds of outrages as a descent in hell for which you’re willing to pay the price?
For you to have any credibility left at all in my eyes I’m sure you will stand as a witness for the defence when Iraqi boys are charged with murder of American soldiers?
The point is, we are no better than SH doing feces such as this. He was blasted by bush for killing his own ppl with the gases up north. We are doing nothing but the same thing as he did, only one difference, they are not our ppl. This type of thing used in warfare was said to be banned in the early 80’s.
As I understand this new willy pete, it is more vicious than the old one. That is the problem with it. I do not think one can submit it into water to quince the results. The vapors are just horrible to be breathed in. Anyhow, this is what we invaded Iraq for, WMDs and this to me is one. It is killing the innocent children and women and the old ppl. and that is not who we should be against. BTw one can catch more flies with sugar than with vinegar.
That is exactly the point, Brenda, thanks for reminding us. There is no objective basis to put us on a higher moral ground when the United States rains chemicals from the skies to kill Iraqi civilians.
I need to stop using “us” and “we” when discussing our occupation of Iraq.
Not at all, I appreciate your perspective on things.
So really we have used WP as a weapon often in war. That’s what I was afraid you’d say. (Although some chemists at my workplace assert that a WP fire is more similar to burning magnesium–water doesn’t always squelch it.)
I do hope we can turn the current outrage against the war into a bright light that shines upon our wartime practices as well, whether they are new or not. The use of WP in particular seems determined to kill civilians rather than fighters. There’s no way a 200-yard death cloud can be “surgical.”
And I agree–if war is necessary to protect our country’s interests, we should accept that eyes wide open and realize that war really is hell. I would hope we can define our involvement in that hell in a way more consistent with American values. Obviously neither happened in this case. Thanks, Larry.
once a marine, always a marine. Sometimes I do wonder if things are not always the way it seems. Just wondering….
Same for white phos…as asked prior to mine.
I see no remorse for the civilians that went down in this letter…makes me wonder….just wondering….
I see not one bit of or sense of needing to get this thing over and done with. Sensing the permament bases???????!!!!!!
Like I said, once a marine, always a marine….:o)
Brenda, this morning in my RSS feed application, i noticed that Pat Lang has put up a rebuttal by an anonymous active soldier who criticizes this piece.
I think I’ll regard this piece as just one viewpoint from one soldier who’s trying to stay alive and keep his buddies alivve, and who isn’t a sophisticated political analyst. (And, from his limited vantage in Iraq, how could he possibly assess the political dimensions fully?)
It has value in that it shows how the regular soldier is thinking and dealing with everyday concerns about very basic survival information.
And I promptly forgot to add that I put the link to the rebuttal in the story above.
I am sorry to extend likely unwanted sympathy (in effect, pity) to another American (semper fi and his father), but I am getting used to it, had to do it for all manner of reason for too long.
We are being devastated as a nation by this bi-partisan and unwarranted war… so boys (and sadly girls too) can go for fun and horror more than half way round the world…. And advise us as to ordnance and weaponry (as glad as I am for information, any information, that is what this is). While we further “intelligent design” in too many states and school districts at home…
We should not be there, in the Western Desert nor in the cities nor in the permanent bases (that the Democrats, but for a few in the House, will not even speak of…).
Bring them home. Those who refuse, leave them there.
Just following my gut instinct here (which has been right about everything in the run up to war through present). We are fucked. Individual reports like this from the field say more about U.S. propaganda toward their own soldiers (don’t get captured/watch out for Zarquawi/they really know we’re tougher soldiers than they are). I imagine the same soldier will be writing the same thing in one year, or three years, or five years, or for as long as America wants to keep the war alive.
Our war ends when we leave. Not before. Their real civil war starts when we leave. Not before. That is my prediction. From an old soldier who always thought gung ho jarheads were about what their nickname implied.
this paragraph suggests an ominous moral license:
We, on the other hand, are ever so discriminating and focused not on killing per se but instituting a peaceful order just as soon as the opposition is extinguished or goes back home. Nonetheless, any atrocity occurring along the way can only have been forced on us by the immoral nature of the insurgency.
The confusion between killing and winning is starkest in their resentment of what we on the homefront think:
The military command holds extraordinary power to motivate the ranks. It is using that power to create a constituency gullible enough to approve a battle plan that is not visible in waking light. Great soldiers, I’m sure, but political cowards.
If they’re in the mosques, schools, and hospitals, why aren’t our Ops and Iraqi Ops teams there? If the primary weapon is an IED on the roadways, then why are we on the roads? (There’s enough heavy equipment to grade new roads + bridges anywhere in theater).
Too many questions with obvious tactical solutions not being pursued. The only good news buried in the mail is Iraqi’s finally getting fed up enough to “out” the bad guys. One small step forward.
James Fallows article in the December Atlantic is a must read on this:
by James Fallows
Ok, I have been running around defending your front page status and talking about learning things and keeping an open mind, but this just has me aksing “what the hell was I thinking?!”
Is the point of all of this that if we thought “more unconvetionally” we could WIN THIS THING?
so, these poor guys (and gals) think they are winning, eh? Well, I suppose they all do until they come home in a damed box, that is, if they can actually find all of the pieces.
This just seems a post in awfully bad taste (worse that the Hajis thing from yesterday for me) on top of the news that we are melting the skin off of people on top of blowing them to bits and dropping DU all over the place.
Their morale is high? Yippie ay yay.
This all jsut makes me sick.
Well, if that were my daughter writing that letter — and it could be if she wants to go to college someday — I’d hope she’s in good spirits and I’d hope she’s hip to which weapons work and which don’t, and what the “bad” guys are using. All that is important for the soldiers to know for survival.
if I were stuck over there for whatever reason — say I’d signed up for the National Guard 15 years ago to help fight forest fires, etc. — I’d sure as hell want to know what I could do to help myself and my fellow soldiers stay alive.
The phosphorus story is sickening. I watched the video on Democracy now! twice yesterday, and heard the interviews. … it’s “upper management” that’s okaying such obscene weapons, not the grunts.
It’s not brand new news…. many people have written about it for a long time, but the Italian video and the story that Steven quotes make it more hideiously real to us now.
I am sorry to hear that your daughter doesn’t see any other way to get to college than sign up for the Armed Forces, susan, I really am.
I heard the news last year about the war crimes in Falluja (before I wrote on blogs) — when I said “coming right on top of the news”, I meant ON THIS SITE and the irony of having on right up front along with “Terror Saves Bush Once Again” [paraphrase] was too blatant to ignore.
When I said “coming right on top of the news”, I meant ON THIS SITE and the irony of having on right up front along with “Terror Saves Bush Once Again” [paraphrase] was too blatant to ignore.
Ahhh .. sorry that I misunderstood … it figures you’d know all about it because you read a lot. (I had to see the doctor and get some new pain medication for my pinched nerves, and I’m not the sharpest pencil in the room today :):))
Also talked to relatives today about my mom, who’s failing swiftly, and politics came up too … they’ve always been fervently Republican but now they’re anti-Bush too. Which shocked me to no end, and also pleased me. One was career Army, so I’m going to send him this and Steven’s stories. They feel terribly about the war, btw.
and about the pinched nerves — those can be a bitch!
Good to hear that your relatives may be coming ’round though. Take good care of you and don’t worry about my rantings!
😉
PS Even on your “dullest” day, I take your level of sharpness over most other pencils every day of the week and twice on Sundays!
Bottom line, support for the crusade remains high, like the morale of the gunmen, who do enjoy a very favorable kill ratio.
There have been some expressions of displeasure regarding the methods used to exterminate the Iraqis, which I view as a good sign. One takes what progress one can get with these things, much as one does with Holocaust Deniers
In that case, it is a step up from Holocaust Applauders, and in the case of US crusade, opposition to a particular extermination method is a step up from those who do not care how the Iraqis are slaughtered, as long as they are slaughtered.
You rule. Don’t ever change. No snark intended, I enjoy your perspective. I share it.
One problem I find with this is this statement:”These are mostly “foreigners”, non-Iraqi Sunni Arab Jihadists from all over the Muslim world”. How many times has it been said that the foreign terrorists are a minority there, and that the the insurgency is mostly nationals?
If that is so, then it would indicate that they are just reciting military propaganda.
I question that too. I wonder if that’s the popular view among the marines serving over there … one more way to delude themselves that they might be doing something worthwhile.
There has to be a lot of rationalizing in order to cope with such circumstances, I’d guess.
I don’t think that they can be saying:”for every innsurgent you kill, another 10 will take it’s place” or “hey, we are losing this war” would be well recieved.
Soldiers alwasy have to believe that they are doing good, so they can keep a high moral.
If I weren’t so lazy I would have looked at it sooner.
The Christian Science Monitor said that the percentage of foreign fighters to be between 4 and 10 %
may, like imaginary numbers, be a legitimate tool in charting a military course.
But this is something else. This is a falsehood that leads to a mistake.
“Hell here, home there” does not work on native insurgents.
It does work on foreign occupiers.
I wonder if this is what they’re told by higher ups in order to keep them motivated 🙁
but motivated to do what?
The only plan is to kill, then kill more. The country is already conquered.
As a former Marine, admittedly duped 35 – 40 years ago, yes brainwashing and dehumanization of the enemy is a part of the training. How else can the troops be motivated to do what they are sent to do. Nearly all of the info we had was what was passed down through the ranks. Yes, they are reciting military propaganda because it is all they know.
another Marine’s view
Well here’s the view my husband is hearing from other Marines who’ve come back. It’s a “goat-rope.” In other words, they are not optimistic.
What in the heck is a goat rope?
It’s Marine parlance. You can’t rope goats. Goats are very independent. They are not inclined to be herded like docile sheep. A goat-rope is an exercise in futility.
Oh! We never had goats on our farm when I was growing up.
So, it’s like the currently fashionable phrase, “it’s like herding cats.” (And I can personally vouch for the truth of that saying.)
Another phrase very popular, maybe a little too popular, among Marines. It’s a little different though. Goats are a bit more confrontational and belligerent than cats.
Of all the statements made by this soldier and his father the one that stands out to me and not in a good way, is the fact that his son is ‘looking forward to returning to Iraq’–what kind of person is looking forward to war/killing people with the knowledge that so many civilians will be killed?
buddies blown to pieces, and can’t get himself to blame his own country for it. Whoever DIRECTLY kills his buddies is the enemy, not the guy who started the war. That would just be too damn mindfucking in the midst of it all.
Sounds like a press officer.
I’m surprised that so many folks take umbrage at having to go through the effort to read between the lines of a report by an active duty membner of the armed forced. IMHO it was full of valuable information.
Also, I happen to beleive that military service is an honorable vocation, and while I would profoundly disagree with someone over the rightness of the Iraq war- I’ll give Semper Fi the benefit of considering him an idealist who wants to get back to Iraq to make the world safe for democracy or some such before I’d call his enthusiasm a sign of sociopathic tendencies as some folks have.
But I cant resist a little jab at our contributor:
“The Chechens (many of whom are Caucasian)…”
Actually, ALL Chechens are Caucasian.
I read the entire entry with an erie sense of deja vu. All I can say is that much of it reminded me of what my uncle told me while on leave in late 1967. He died the following year in Viet Nam.
He was 21 years old.
Oh god. That’s so sad.
My cousin came home — he was an infantry officer in Vietman — for his father’s funeral and then he had to return. My college roommate and I spent a couple days with him before he flew back out.
The stuff he told us. Including Vietnamese prostitutes who hid razorblades in their vaginas … I have no clue if that’s true, or if he believed it. But one thing is sure: He was the most terrified, freaked-out human being I’ve ever been around.
Including Vietnamese prostitutes who hid razorblades in their vaginas … I have no clue if that’s true, or if he believed it.
It may or may not be true, but it’s more likely an urban legend. I have little doubt that there were troops in ‘nam who believed it whole-heartedly. I’ve also heard it pronounced as fact, by vets. But, when you are fighting a war against guerrillas who are in and amongst the civilian population, you are terrified of everybody. I had a neighbor, as a child, who told us about an exchange he had with a small child, in Vietnam. The child offered him a coke and he began to decline it. The child took a drink from the coke to show him it wasn’t poisoned, so he accepted it. So not only was he afraid to take a soda from a small child, the child completely understood why. Even a little kid could be your enemy.