While our petulant boy-king works diligently to undercut the Iraq Study Group's report (which is astonishing in that, if heeded, it would largely give Bush a pass on his monumental catastrophe, the "graceful exit" he pre-emptively and so irrationally snubbed before its release), it was refreshing to see our soldiers' views on this report. Such stories are extremely rare in the mainstream media.
From the AP:
American troops in one of the most dangerous corners of Iraq welcomed plans for change Wednesday as the Pentagon prepared for a new chief and a bipartisan commission urged a new war strategy.
But many of the soldiers from Company C, 1st Battalion, 37th Armored Regiment were skeptical they'll be going home anytime soon, despite a high-level U.S. panel's recommendation that most combat troops leave Iraq by early 2008.
"There's no way we're leaving in two years no matter what any recommendation says," Spc. Eisenhower Atuatasi, 26, of Westminster, Calif., said. He thought 2012 was more realistic.
And why is that?
Sgt. Christopher Wiacik, 28, of Lavonia, Mich., also was pessimistic.
"It's just a study group. It's not really going to affect the president. I don't see any major changes happening until presidential elections start," Wiacik said. "I think both sides will promise to get troops out and give timelines then, but not before."
Now there's some real straight talk. His Commander-in-Chief is failing him; his strategy, or lack thereof, has long been a dead end. Yet no one, not even the Iraq Study Group, with the eyes of America and the rest of the world on him, is going to substantively change Bush's mind. This soldier, and certainly many like him, has lost all faith in Bush's ability to lead. In other words, as Bush likes to say, he paints the picture of a president who believes he has absolute power. A dictator, you might say.
Yet these soldiers, and the Iraqi people, are the ones who are suffering and paying with their lives daily because of our president's extreme state of denial.
The U.S. Army troops, based in the Sunni insurgent stronghold of Ramadi, are still reeling from learning two months ago that their tour was being extended until at least February.
"We've been here for 12 months now and there's been no progress," said Spc. Richard Johnson, 20, of Bridgeport, Conn., as he manned a machine gun on the rooftop of an outpost ringed by a shallow moat of sewage.
Nearby buildings have been leveled by rocket or tank fire, and others are riddled with bullet holes. The neighborhood only has electricity a few hours a day and most streets are barricaded with barbed wire and blast walls.
"It's like holding a child's hand. How long can you hold onto his hand before he does something on his own?" Johnson said. "How much longer do we have to get shot at or blown up?"
Will Bush label our soldiers' views as nothing but the beliefs of a "focus group," as he did with the millions of people, in America and around the world, who told him this war would be a disaster before the invasion? Sure looks that way.
1st Lt. Gerard Dow said he agreed with the commission's assessment that the situation in Iraq was "grave and disappointing."
"In Iraq, we try to win the hearts and minds of population," said Dow, 32, of Chicago. "They want Americans out of here. They blame us for all their problems. They look at us as the terrorists and then they turn around and help the terrorists who are trying to kill us."
If only Bush had a heart and a mind, maybe we could bring 1st Lt. Gerard Dow home. But Bush refuses to admit that it is an unwinnable quagmire.
"U.S. soldiers are dying trying to help people who don't want their help," he said. "That makes you angry."
...
The soldiers here also welcomed news that Robert Gates had been named to replace Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld. Gates told a Senate committee Tuesday that "all options are on the table" about how to resolve the Iraq crisis.
"Yes, please! All of us want to change what we're doing because we're not doing very much," said Staff Sgt. Rony Theodore, 33, of Brooklyn, N.Y.
Wiacik also hoped for change.
"We're just sitting around not making any progress. It's annoying. You're not motivated to help anybody," he said, adding his contract was up in 2008 and he did not plan to re-enlist.
"I don't want to live my life like this," he said.
George W. Bush desperately wanted to be a war president. It was his only shot to avoid being a one-termer like his daddy. His only shot to inject some gravitas into his empty swagger. His only shot to be remembered for anything.
Well, he succeeded.
And to his already abysmal legacy, you can now add the enmity of his own fighting forces. Another triumph, GWB-style. The only man who couldn't find oil in Texas strikes again!
Not one more soldier should have to die because this man is incapable of admitting he's wrong. This man who giggles maniacally in the middle of a press conference when the subject of his ongoing state of denial is raised. A state of denial that has contributed to over a half million deaths and counting. It's time for his Oedipal issues to be worked out elsewhere (and I don't mean in Iran), in a personal atmosphere where other human beings are no longer paying for his wounded male psyche.
This president needs more than a timeout. He needs to be grounded.
AP Polls U.S. Soldiers in Iraq on Study Group Report: 'I Don't Want to Live My Life Like This'
The Associated Press (via Editor & Publisher)
What Our Soldiers Are Saying About Iraq
Posted by: MediaBloodhound | December 08, 2006 at 01:48 AM
You're right, MB. Really refreshing to hear the spin-free views of the soldiers. Thanks for spotlighting this story.
"We've been here for 12 months now and there's been no progress," said Spc. Richard Johnson, 20, of Bridgeport, Conn.......
"How much longer do we have to get shot at or blown up?"
Not a day longer, Spc. Johnson.
Not a @#$%^&* day longer.
U.S. troops out YESTERDAY.
John Kerry's question during his 1971 testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee regarding Vietnam should be asked by all Americans EVERY DAY until we leave Iraq:
"How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?"
Posted by: scuttle | December 08, 2006 at 09:29 AM
Thanks for posting this. It's incredibly important that the views of soldiers on the ground be heard and heeded. Of course, this is not an administration known for doing what "makes sense", or "is best for the people". Those are apparently pinko commie philosophies, given how adamantly Bush and company avoid them.
Posted by: Dan | December 08, 2006 at 12:27 PM