I currently am taking an intensive language course in Japanese, and it just turns out that one of my classmates has just returned from Iraq. A couple of days ago, I had the opportunity to ask him how things went overthere, and some of what he said surprised me, some didn't. Mostly, I came away with confirmation of what most people already know: it's chaos over there. According to him, the Iraqis in his area have no sense of national unity, and are incredibly corrupt. He told me how a police chief was told by a woman that her boyfriend was involved in making bombs, and she was promptly taken out into a field by him and shot in the back of the head. He tried to execute her entire family, but the Americans found out about it, and stopped him.
He also told me that the kids don't like them. Every day, he said, kids would come out and give them guff, or throw rocks at them as they rode by in their tanks. So he began piling rocks on his tank, and returning the favor. One kid, he said, he hit in the solar plexus with a large stone thrown forward from a tank going 40 miles an hour. Imagine that. That rock must have been going at least 90 and the kid could have easily killed the kid. If he died, it wouldn't surprise me if his brother tried to kill an American some time soon.
He also said that as of mid 2005, his platoon was under-supplied on ammo. They were stealing ammo from a neighboring platoon, and armoring their vehicles with sand bags. Wasn't this problem supposed to be taken care of? He wrote his father who wrote their senator, and by the time they left they did have enough supplies, but I still find it shocking that you wouldn't supply your own army.
As a side note, when I asked about the civilian project, he said that all the shit jobs go to the Iraqis.
All this really does lay bare how incredibly corrupt, evil, and pointless this war has been. We need a change in November people! Go out and vote.
