posted on September 16, 2004 12:21:11 PM new
Even the troops seem to think the Iraqi people do not want them there.
RAMADI, Iraq -- Marine Cpl. Travis Friedrichsen, a sandy-haired 21-year-old from Denison, Iowa, used to take Tootsie Rolls and lollipops out of care packages from home and give them to Iraqi children. Not anymore.
"My whole opinion of the people here has changed. There aren't any good people," said Friedrichsen, who says his first instinct now is to scan even youngsters' hands for weapons.
Subtle hostility extends to Iraqi adults, and evidence of betrayal among some of the country's officials is causing some American troops to have second thoughts.
"We're out here giving our lives for these people," said Sgt. Jesse Jordan, 25, of Grove Hill, Ala. "You'd think they'd show some gratitude. Instead, they don't seem to care."
When new troops rotated into Iraq early in the spring, the military portrayed the second stage of the occupation as a peacekeeping operation focused at least as much on reconstruction as on mopping up rebel resistance.
Even in strongholds of the Sunni insurgency such as Ramadi, a restive provincial capital west of Baghdad, the Marine Corps sent in its units with a mission to win over the people as well as smite the enemy. Commanders worked to instill sympathy for the local population through sensitivity training and exhortations from higher officers.
Marines were ordered to show friendliness through "wave tactics," including waving at people on the street. Few spend much time waving these days.
But the hard reality of frequent hit-and-run attacks, roadside bombs showering military vehicles with shrapnel and mortars exploding on their base has left plenty of Marines, particularly grunts on the ground, disillusioned and bitter.
Deployment in the spring
Since the 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, deployed in the area six months ago, 34 Marines have died and more than a quarter of the 1,000-member unit has been wounded. Now, as the battalion nears the end of its deployment, virtually every Marine in Ramadi has been shot at or seen a bomb or rocket-propelled grenade explode, and many have had several such brushes with death, commanders said.
Along with the heavy toll of attacks by insurgents, the Marines cite other sources of frustration. High among them is the scarcity of tips from Iraqis on the locations of the roadside bombs that kill and maim Marines, even though the explosives frequently are placed in well-trafficked areas where bomb teams probably would be observed.
Then there are the hostile glares that adults in the community give to passing American military patrols, and treachery from high-profile allies, such as the provincial police chief who was arrested last month amid strong suspicions that he was working with the insurgency.
Some Marines say the sense that their presence is unappreciated calls into question the entire project in Iraq, which they consider a liberation that should be welcomed. But other Marines said their support for the intervention is undiminished, as direct contact with the enemy strengthens their conviction that the U.S. faces threats that require decisive action.
Commanders acknowledge a shift in attitude toward Iraqis among troops but insist it makes little difference in accomplishing their mission. The Marines are a disciplined fighting force and under orders to treat Iraqis "with dignity," said Maj. Mike Wylie, the battalion executive officer.
But Iraqis clearly can pick up on the feelings of ground troops they encounter--one of the reasons that Marine commanders were originally so eager to promote a friendly attitude. Commanders have long emphasized that even casual interactions can produce valuable intelligence and win trust.
In a place where American soldiers are at constant risk of surprise attack, ill will shortens fuses even further.
"We're not taking any chances: Shoot first and ask questions later," said Lance Cpl. David Goward, 26, a machine gunner from Cloquet, Minn. "We're a lot more dangerous now. I'm not going home in a body bag, and neither is the person next to me."
Extended military engagement against an insurgency rarely breeds cozy relations among soldiers and civilians. But the American military's strict rules of engagement about when soldiers can shoot and when they can't are designed to limit the impact that passions can have on actions on the battlefield, said retired Brig. Gen. David Grange, a former Special Forces commander.
The acts of friendship that Marines undertook when they arrived in Ramadi now in some cases heighten their resentment toward the city's residents.
After a series of ambushes one April day that killed a dozen Marines, Cpl. Jason Rodgers saw a familiar face among a group of slain attackers. The dead Iraqi, who was lying inches from a grenade, was a shopkeeper Rodgers had called on several times during foot patrols, he said.
`I felt like I'd been betrayed'
"I felt like I'd been betrayed, personally," said Rodgers, 22, of Susanville, Calif. "I'd stood there, talking to him, shaking his hand, giving his kid candy. And he'd been studying our moves the whole time."
Capt. Rob Weiler, commander of the battalion's mobile assault company, arrived in Iraq toting a copy of the Federalist Papers and an American government textbook along with his M-16 and body armor, expecting to spend as much time advising local leaders new to democracy as he did fighting off insurgents.
Even as Weiler and his company fought attacks by insurgents around the city, he threw himself into the task of assisting with reconstruction works. He met with leaders to assess needs and hired local contractors to complete several projects, including renovation of a school.
But as a convoy of Marines pulled up to the school one day in late May to check on the contractors' progress, he said, a roadside bomb exploded in front of the building, wounding two Marines.
"It was extremely difficult for me to believe that none of the people that I was employing to do things to improve their lives and the lives of their children knew anything about it," Weiler said.
Likewise, Sgt. Curtis Neill cites a rocket-propelled grenade attack on his platoon as it passed some shops one hot August day. When the Marines responded, the attacker fled, but they found that he had established a comfortable and obvious position to lie in wait.
There, in an alleyway beside the shops was a seat and ammunition for the grenade launcher--along with a pitcher of water and a half-eaten bowl of grapes, said Neill, who was so amazed that he took photos of the setup.
`That's why I'm bitter'
"You could tell the guy had been hanging out all day. It was out in the open. Every single one of the guys in the shops could tell the guy was set up to attack us," said Neill, 34, of Colrain, Mass. "That's the problem. That's why I'm bitter toward the people."
Navy Lt. Kenneth Son, the battalion surgeon, said he has seen a complete 180-degree turn in the attitudes of Marines toward the Iraqi people.
"When they first came, I was able to discern . . . some glimmer of hopefulness that we would be able to make a difference in the lives of Iraqis," Son said. "I do see that glimmer of hope has dimmed. What some say is maybe there is a reason that the previous regime controlled the country in such a heavy-handed way."
DICK CHENEY SUPPORTS MY RELATIONSHIP: People ought to be free to enter into any kind of relationship they want to
Let's have a BBQ, Texas style, ROAST BUSH
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YOU CAN'T HAVE BULLSH** WITH OUT BUSH.
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[ edited by logansdad on Sep 16, 2004 12:44 PM ]
posted on September 18, 2004 06:47:13 AM new
Substitute the name Vietnam for Iraq and we have the same mess.
You can't deliver democracy to a people at the end of a gun barrel, nor does everyone in the world view our government system as desirable.
There was no reason to invade Iraq and it was strategically stupid to do so.
Iraq was harmless to the outside world and was a secular dictatorship, certainly no ally to Muslim terrorists.
And as I pointed out many months ago and now intellegence reports agree, the best that can come out of Iraq is for it to become another radical muslim republic.
[ edited by logansdad on Sep 16, 2004 12:44 PM ]