Injured Army reservist recalls suicide bomber's eyes

[UpInArms]

http://www.news-record.com/ae/features/reservist_011605.html

excerpt:

The truck, maroon with a white design on the side, reminded her of a Toyota pickup that her father once owned back home in Asheboro. The driver was the only occupant. He had thick, curly hair, caramel-colored skin, a broad nose, chunky cheeks and a mustache.

Army Spc. Spinks, in the gun turret of the middle Humvee, yelled in Arabic for the driver to stop. For a moment, their eyes met.

She expected to see defiance. Maybe hate.


The Purple Heart that Spc. Connie Spinks received for injuries sustained in a suicide bomber attack in Iraq in October was presented to her by actor Denzel Washington while she was recovering at a hospital in Texas. (Kelly Pace/©News & Record)

She saw nothing. He looked as if he were doing an everyday job.

<snip>

The explosion hurled Spinks from the turret. A second later, she hung by a piece of her uniform on the Humvee’s driver’s side door, which had been blown open. She unfastened a piece of Velcro and dropped to the ground. She tried to crawl. Her legs wouldn’t move. She looked down and saw the bones in her left hand. She tried to pull herself forward on her elbows. She went nowhere.

...lots more...

[livinginphotographs]

1. Kick.

That was an incredibly sad story.

Yet one more poor kid who joined the army just to pay for college.

“I didn’t go into the Army to kill people. For real,” she says. “That was the furthest thing from my mind.”

[mike_c]

2. hell of an article....

But as much as I feel for Ms. Spinks and the others described in the article, I can't help being angry at them for being in Iraq to begin with. The resistance fighter who attacked that convoy died too, yet he was little more than part of the background in the article, but at least he wasn't demonized directly. His family also lost a son, perhaps a husband and father, fighting against a foreign occupier. We can only speculate about what his last thoughts were, and about how his death affected those who knew him.

[oneold1-4u]

3. Hey Mike

Please remember that this same "one" were on planes in the "friendly skies" on 9/11. It really doesn't matter who or where, if they wish to die killing others, they will.
It is sad that we are their choice in Iraq, but they choose this death all over the world, and even for their own for centuries.

[mike_c]

5. there is a big difference between being willing to die...

...to defend your country, tribe, faith, etc and "wish(ing) to die killing others." The former is admirable, while the later is at best psychopathic. Do you seriously mean to suggest that suicide bombers in Irag are all psychopaths? I think they're just people, fighting for something that matters to them, using the only weapons they have against an overwhelmingly superior occupation force. There's little effective difference between driving a bomb into an enemy convoy and charging openly against insurmountable odds, except that driving the bomb is likely to enjoy greater tactical success while doomed charges are more likely to inspire poems. If you're correct, and all those suicide bombers simply wish to die killing others, why didn't they do it before the U.S. invasion? Seems like it would have been a whole lot easier then.

on edit: I hope you didn't mean to imply a connection between Iraqis and 9/11.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

9. If the U.S. was occupied by a foreign power (not bloody likely right now),

and your neighbor was part of the resistance, and took out a bunch of occupied troops blowing themselves up with some kind of explosive in the process, would you consider them a terrorist? A heroic freedom fighter?

[mitchtv]

10. what the F** k are you saying???

that they are the same as the Saudis who committed 9/11? Lo siento senor, These men were Iraqi patriots defending their country against foreign invaders /occupiers. Like hopefully you would if they were over here killing our people and torturing our citizens. Too much Fox?

[saigon68]

11. Another Neocon apology "It is sad that we are their choice in Iraq"

WE are their choice !!!! because we are there in Iraq to kill their children, steal their oil, and allow thugs like CIA Puppet Allowi, to become a member of the Bush Criminal enterprize.

No WOMEN in combat eh? I for one---- have no tears to shed for these idiots who enlist to get killed.

[wellst0nev0ter]

12. Thanx For Comfirming

That this Eye-Rack war is nothing but a supersized revenge fanatasy of killing a bunch of A-rabs, no matter if they were the ones who committed terror against us or not.

[NYC]

13. 9/11? Saudi Arabians, not Iraqis.

???

[Tinoire]

19. Rarely have I seen so many "mistakes" in 3 sentences

1. this same "one" were on planes in the "friendly skies" on 9/11
FALSE.

2. It really doesn't matter who or where, if they wish to die killing others, they will.
FALSE. What are they in your opinion? Irrational, murdering animals?

3. but they choose this death all over the world
FALSE. An despicable right-wing lie.

:wtf:
What kind of propaganda have you been reading??! And more importantly, why are you pushing it?

Here's some more propaganda in action you might be interested in:

Remind US Again: Why Did The U.S. Invade Iraq?

[yinkaafrica]

8. The Iraqis are only doing what we have forced them into doing

The occupiers call them suicide bombers; the occupied call
them freedom fighters.

[Demit]

4. Good article. Thanks for posting it. I wish the papers would write more

of these. Maybe more Americans would pay more attention, and think more about this awful war and what it is doing, to people like Connie Spinks; her dead and maimed fellow soldiers; and ultimately to all of us, both here and in Iraq.

[go west young man]

6. "It was gods will he said, if it wasn't they wouldn't have died"

This quote is something you would expect from a suicide bomber but the strange thing to me is that is what the American soldier says. It gives a cleared perspective on this "Crusade" to the holy lands. The soldier actually thinks those guys dying was gods will.

[CoffeeCat]

7. Thank you for posting this article...

This is exactly what Americans need to see.

This is the truth that everyone needs to read.

This was not a senational, graphic article. This was the true story of what happens on an almost-daily basid in Iraq.

If someone from the News Record can write an article like this--others can also.

There is no excuse for CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS and others--who fail to report in-depth stories like these that reveal the true cost of this war.

How much longer will the media act as White House PR agents--instead of journalists?

[GetTheRightVote]

14. It would help if these soldiers would start realizing that they were lied

to and start helping to bring other soldiers home from that evil war.

:kick:

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

15. My God that's a powerful piece.

We have to stop this madness.

[Catchawave]

16. Very well written article, thanks....

for posting it...I can almost see "his eyes" too :::shivers:::

I hope Ms Spinks doesn't get in trouble, she may have said too much?

[biftonnorton]

17. Sad Story

She will regret not stopping that guy every day, I bet. I feel bad for her.

[slater71]

18. Lying fucking chimp

Didn`t that fucking monkey say to Barbara Walters the other night that their will be no womwn in combat?

[Tinoire]

20. That's one of the biggest lies. Plenty of women end up in combat

They're just not allowed to get the combat training and specialties. The Army has been preparing women for it ever since the late 70's. There's not a female in the military who didn't get weapon's training, learn to crawl under/through barbed wire, or train for long foot marches with full gear on her back in and full MOPP (NBC) posture.

Check out, for instance, the high ratio of women in Tactical Intel units. When those Intel systems deploy, often way ahead of the combat troops, those women go. And those liars who call that not being in combat are pushing a rosy little fantasy.

The rose fantasy about women not being in combat is for the parents & the public.

Iraq is one huge combat zone and these people are still pushing that comforting little lie. Infuriating isn't it?