'Why Are We Still Here?'

by hilzoy

From the NYT:

"Staff Sgt. David Safstrom does not regret his previous tours in Iraq, not even a difficult second stint when two comrades were killed while trying to capture insurgents.

“In Mosul, in 2003, it felt like we were making the city a better place,” he said. “There was no sectarian violence, Saddam was gone, we were tracking down the bad guys. It felt awesome.”

But now on his third deployment in Iraq, he is no longer a believer in the mission. The pivotal moment came, he says, this past February when soldiers killed a man setting a roadside bomb. When they searched the bomber’s body, they found identification showing him to be a sergeant in the Iraqi Army.

“I thought, ‘What are we doing here? Why are we still here?’ ” said Sergeant Safstrom, a member of Delta Company of the First Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry, 82nd Airborne Division. “We’re helping guys that are trying to kill us. We help them in the day. They turn around at night and try to kill us.”

His views are echoed by most of his fellow soldiers in Delta Company, renowned for its aggressiveness. (...)

With few reliable surveys of soldiers’ attitudes, it is impossible to simply extrapolate from the small number of soldiers in Delta Company. But in interviews with more than a dozen soldiers over a one-week period with this 83-man unit, most said they were disillusioned by repeated deployments, by what they saw as the abysmal performance of Iraqi security forces and by a conflict that they considered a civil war, one they had no ability to stop.

They had seen shadowy militia commanders installed as Iraqi Army officers, they said, had come under increasing attack from roadside bombs — planted within sight of Iraqi Army checkpoints — and had fought against Iraqi soldiers whom they thought were their allies.

“In 2003, 2004, 100 percent of the soldiers wanted to be here, to fight this war,” said Sgt. First Class David Moore, a self-described “conservative Texas Republican” and platoon sergeant who strongly advocates an American withdrawal. “Now, 95 percent of my platoon agrees with me.” (...)

On April 29, a Delta Company patrol was responding to a tip at Al Sadr mosque, a short distance from its base. (...) When the battle was over, Delta Company learned that among the enemy dead were at least two Iraqi Army soldiers that American forces had helped train and arm.

“The 29th was a watershed moment in a negative sense, because the Iraqi Army would not fight with us,” Captain Rogers said, adding, “Some actually picked up weapons and fought against us.”

The battle changed the attitude among his soldiers toward the war, he said.

“Before that fight, there were a few true believers.” Captain Rogers said. “After the 29th, I don’t think you’ll find a true believer in this unit. They’re paratroopers. There’s no question they’ll fulfill their mission. But they’re fighting now for pride in their unit, professionalism, loyalty to their fellow soldier and chain of command.”"

As if that weren't enough for one story, here's the part that really got to me:

"Their many deployments have added to the strain. After spending six months in Iraq, the soldiers of Delta Company had been home for only 24 hours last December when the news came. “Change your plans,” they recall being told. “We’re going back to Iraq.”

Nineteen days later, just after Christmas, Capt. Douglas Rogers and the men of Delta Company were on their way to Kadhimiya, a Shiite enclave of about 300,000."

Nineteen days? Nineteen days??? It would be hard to ask this of our soldiers for a war that was worth fighting. But we are asking it of them because Bush decided to go for his surge -- a strategy that neither his own generals nor almost anyone else thought would work, and whose main recommendation seemed to be that it would allow him to go on avoiding the need to admit that the war is lost for another eight months or so. I hope he enjoys delaying the inevitable, given what other people are paying for it.

Comments

[Jon H]

So, the Dems are going to let bush have his shitty war.

So why don't they do something else, like (as I've suggested before) crank up the top tax bracket's rate every month until we're out?

Sell it as having the top 1% sacrifice for the best 1%.

Eventually the fat cats will scream, and the GOP will be ready to bug out.

[OCSteve]

Three tours, four tours, five tours. Outrageous.

BTW – the fact that a SFC and a Captain are willing to go on the record by name in the NYT with this speaks volumes to me.

[hilzoy]

Jon H: the posting rules forbid profanity.

[Andrew R.]

Given the high level of Sadrist participation/infiltration/whatever of the current Iraqi government (cabinet withdrawals notwithstanding), it (sadly) does not surprise me at all that lots of Iraqi soldiers moonlight in the Mahdi Army.

[Tom Maguire]

Aneurysm Alert - the Times had a moving story about a small town in Delaware with opposing protestors on opposite sides of the street. But check the photo caption:

Jeffery Broderick, foreground, standing alone last week in support of United States troops as demonstrators for peace occupy an opposite corner.

Someone might want to mention to the Times that even a lot of the peace movement supports the troops (I will, but they ignore me on everything else.)

Some writers might even mention that the logic of supporting the troops by supporting the war is a bit murky, as evidenced by the Times story linked in the post (I knew I was not totally off-topic!).

[G'Kar]

A lot of Iraqis, soldiers included, do a lot of things for money. One will be offered $100 to dig a hole by the road. Another will be offered $100 to put a package in it, another $50 to watch the road and do something when a convoy is approaching, and so on. With unemployment so high in Iraq, people will do quite a bit to support their families, particularly since the actual setup of the weapon is done by the insurgents.

This is part of why any solution is mostly outside the military realm.

[Jon H]

"Jon H: the posting rules forbid profanity"

Sorry, under the circumstances I forgot s****y was a profanity. It just pales in comparison these days.

[hilzoy]

Not to worry; I just have to say it every so often.

[RLaing]

Why are we still here?

You're kidding, right? There's still 125 billion barrels of primo crude under Iraq, perhaps the same amount again in parts of the country as yet unexplored.

I really wish people would stop asking that inane question.

[Jesurgislac]

RLaing: There's still 125 billion barrels of primo crude under Iraq, perhaps the same amount again in parts of the country as yet unexplored.

I really wish people would stop asking that inane question.

But it needs to keep being asked, so it can be answered.

The Iraqi government voted for the US to provide a timetable to end the occupation, and this vote was ignored: the US is now ordering the Iraqi government to "privatize the oil" - that is, sell off what has been up till now the property of the nation, to the highest bidder. (The highest bidders will not be Iraqi companies, it need not be said.) If the Iraqi Parliament don't agree, the US will no longer provide reconstruction money.

"What is our oil doing under their sand?"