Iraq vet: "As a soldier who fought in the war, I feel misled "

[sabra]

<<SNIP>>
http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2005/08/06/vet_letter/

Letter from an Iraq vet
"I participated in the invasion, stayed for a year afterward, and what I witnessed was the total opposite of what President Bush told the American people."

Editor's note: Following is a letter by Army Sgt. John Bruhns, excerpts of which were read on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives by Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, on July 19, 2005.

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Aug. 6, 2005 | I am a concerned veteran of the Iraq war. I am not an expert on the vast and wide range of issues throughout the political spectrum, but I can offer some firsthand experience of the war in Iraq through the eyes of a soldier. My view of the situation in Iraq will differ from what the American people are being told by the Bush administration. The purpose of this message is to voice my concern that we were misled into war and continue to be misled about the situation in Iraq every day. My opinions on this matter come from what I witnessed in Iraq personally.

.....

We now know most of the information given to us by the current administration concerning Iraq, if not all the information, was false. This was information given to the American people to justify a war. The information about weapons of mass destruction and a link to Osama bin Laden scared the American people into supporting the war in Iraq. They presented an atmosphere of intimidation that suggested if we did not act immediately there was the possibility of another attack. Bush said himself that we do not want the proof or the smoking gun to come in the form of a "mushroom cloud." Donald Rumsfeld said, "We know where the weapons are."


.....

The invasion was very confusing, and so was the period of time I spent in Iraq afterward. At first it did seem as if some of the Iraqi people were happy to be rid of Saddam Hussein. But that was only for a short period of time. Shortly after Saddam's regime fell, the Shiite Muslims in Iraq conducted a pilgrimage to Karbala, a pilgrimage prohibited by Saddam while he was in power. As I witnessed the Shiite pilgrimage, which was a new freedom that we provided to them, they used the pilgrimage to protest our presence in their country. I watched as they beat themselves over the head with sticks until they bled, and screamed at us in anger to leave their country. Some even carried signs that stated, "No Saddam, No America." These were people that Saddam oppressed; they were his enemies. To me, it seemed they hated us more than him.

...

During my year in Iraq I had many altercations with the so-called insurgency. I found the insurgency I saw to be quite different from the insurgency described to the American people by the Bush administration, the media, and other supporters of the war. There is no doubt in my mind there are foreigners from other surrounding countries in Iraq. Anyone in the Middle East who hates America now has the opportunity to kill Americans because there are roughly 140,000 U.S. troops in Iraq. But the bulk of the insurgency I faced was from the people of Iraq, who were attacking us as a reaction to what they felt was an occupation of their country.

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[Cha]

1. The Iraqis don't want

someone else ruling their land..not too hard to understand.

Thanks for this Army Sgt. John Bruhns.

And thanks for the link, sabra.

If someone came over here to bomb us because they wanted to "liberate us" from a certain chimpanzee..

But, say we were the second largest oil producing nation in the world..there would be cause for concern about their motives.

[mcctatas]

4. Aside from the bombing...

I keep hoping Canada will come to our rescue. Send the RCMP to topple the Bush theocracy and I will sure as hell be throwing flowers and candy. Thank You Sgt. John Bruhns!!!

[Cha]

6. Yes, "aside from

the bombing"! :toast: to Canada ..where I'm going to Nova Scotia in September to see "The Proclaimers"(Charlie and Craig Reid and their band from Scotland)!

[jedr]

2. you can't fight a war based on les;

If the response equals the stimulus , then the stimulus better be a good one. Fighting a war "on the cheap" and with no clear cut objective is a good way to loose.

[Sleepless In NY]

3. kick

[FreedomAngel82]

5. God bless him for speaking out

Hopefully it can help change someone's heart.