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Baghdad combat hospital busy again

Posted: Wednesday, September 12, 2007 11:36 AM
Filed Under:

This is one vantage point only. But according to the staff here at the 28th Combat Support Hospital in Baghdad’s Green Zone, the main military hospital here, the lull in violence they had seen for the last several weeks, appears to be over. 

Yesterday began with an entire infantry platoon being rushed in. One soldier had his leg blown off completely just below the knee, extensive damage to one arm and perforations in his intestine. 

The rest of the men suffered less serious injuries, many of them broken ear drums. The ones the medical staff suspected might be at risk for head injuries got examined and spent the night. Toward evening they told us their amazing story.

A sophisticated trap
They had been working in one of the Baghdad neighborhoods considered a hotbed of insurgents. At 3:30 a.m. they took up positions in a house to observe the area. Toward daybreak they heard somebody break in the house. When they went to check if the person was carrying a weapon, they saw a man with a gun run out.  It turned out to be a sophisticated trap.

Just as the men went out to pursue the armed man, one of the soldiers stepped on a hidden bomb that had been placed right where the insurgents knew the troops would go.  He was the one with the extensive injuries. Many others were knocked unconscious from the blow.

Just at that moment dozens of insurgents opened fire from positions well planned in advance. It was amazing that with some of the platoon returning fire and the arrival of a quick reaction force, no one was killed or injured more.

One of the soldiers, on his third tour of duty in Iraq, said the situation has changed dramatically. "It used to be they would fire at us and run away," he said. "Now we are facing an enemy that plans ahead and stays to fight. It is a much more scary out there."

Doing the job
Also yesterday rockets and mortars started landing in the Green Zone again. No one was hurt here.

But near the Baghdad airport, a rocket landed next to a Humvee. A 20-year-old woman who was driving lost her foot and the sergeant major she was driving had several injuries from shrapnel.

The medical staff here jumped into action and did their usual extraordinary job of saving lives, but they are not happy to be so busy again.

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Nationwide, 70% of Iraqis want us to leave.

Independent experts say this war is

CREATING terrorists!

If you dont want to get stung, take your hand

out of the hornets nest!
What would we do if another country that had placed
sanctions on us and crippled our economy and made our
lives miserable for 12 years,then to make up a lie
about WMD's and illegally invade our country to change
the government and end up destroying everything that
we have known, and steal our oil. Face the Truth they
are doing exactly what we would do if we were faced
with a similar situation. To think that the Iraqis
should feel any different than we would is nothing but
arrogant,rascist garbage and almost every country in
the world know this,you have started a fire that will
burn for generations and it will consume us with it.



BACK IN THE 60' OR EARLY 70'S IT WAS REPORTED THAT THE BLACK PANTHERS WERE GOING TO RIOT AND KILL AND SO ON...NEW YORK HUNKERED DOWN IN FEAR..LATER IT WAS REPORTED THAT IT WAS ONLY 81 BLACK PANTHERS..IMAGINE THAT! TEN MILLION PEOPLE AFRAID ANDHELD HOSTAGE IN FEAR TO ONLY 81 MEN..THE SAME IS HEAR WITH IRAQ AND MUSLIM FANATICS...IF WE CAVE IN TO SUCH A SMALL SEGMENT OF DEVILS..IT WILL GIVE THEM AND ALL THOSE WHO SEEK OUR DESTRUCTION BOLDNESS AND COURAGE..WE NEED TO KNOW WHO WE ARE PUTTING IN OFFICE..WE WON THE COLD WAR BECAUSE WE WERE TUFF AND NOT AFRAID..THE LAST THING WE NEED IS A BUNCH OF SISSIES IN OFFICE AND RUNNING OUR COUNTRY...IT'S TIME TO RETURN TO THE WAR WORLD 2 MENTALITY AND..GET THE JOB DONE! STAY STRONG ! UNDERSTANDING THE ONLY WAY TO LOOSE IS TO RETREAT AND BE AFRAID..STAND UP AMERICA! WE ARE AMERICA..HOME OF THE BRAVE!..REMEMBER, TO WHOM MUCH IS GIVEN, MUCH IS REQUIRED..YOU DON'T FIGHT FIRE WITH A LITTLE HOSE...YOU FIGHT IT WITH WHAT THEY UNDERSTAND..FIRE!..DON'T WIMP OUT AMERICA AND BE SURE YOU PUT LEADERS IN OFFICE WHO KNOW THE TIMES AND KNOW WHAT TO DO...IF YOU DON'T WANT TO STAND UP..SIT DOWN AND SHUT UP AND LET LEADERS LEAD..LEADER LEAD...THEY DON'T BOW DOWN IN FEAR AND THEY HAVE THE CHARACTER TO MAKE THE TUFF DECISIONS AND STICK TO THEM..LIKE THE FRAM OIL FILTER COMMERCIAL SAID YEARS AGO...YOU CAN  PAY ME NOW (10 DOLLARS) OR PAY ME LATER (2000 DOLLAR) TRANSMISSION OVERHAUL....
Dear God, if you are out there somewhere, let it be in Iraq. Please protect my son until his safe return home.
It's very difficult to understand how Gen. Patraeus can state with a straight face that the dead toll in Iraq is decreasing. The month of August brought us the highest death toll of Iraqi civilians at 1803+.
Not to mention that the cleansing has already occurred in most areas. Shia's are living now with other Shia. Sunni with other Sunni. More than 2 million have fled Iraq and another 2+ million fled to safer areas of Iraq. There is no one left to kill. IF the Democrats and the Nation as a whole allow these Neo-con scumbags to get away with all these lies, shame, shame on America.
28th CSH,,,keep up the great work! This too shall pass.
1st LT Ken McCawley 865th CSH
Dear God, if you are out there somewhere, let it be in Iraq. Please protect my son until his safe return home.
This is Great that you are giving Treatment to Americans in Iraq, but My question is what about the Iraqi people whom you bought distruction and choas in their country are they not more important then the soldiers who came invading their country??? p.s. I have no respect for War Criminals even if they are Americans or Russians or Serbs, they make no difference to me.
Short term; until Iraq is completely disarmed, it will never be 'safe' for Americans.

Long term; we can keep sacrificing good people until their culture eventually adapts to our presence, and is 'westernized'.... but.. that could take a long time, and more money than we got.
We couldn't afford the war before we started it.  Doesn't anybody remember 'War Bonds' and the fact the USA nearly went bankrupt during WWII???

So the "woman" here doesn't rate having her rank used or at least the title of Soldier or Marine? She volunteered just like the men did.
Much of the story is not being told in Iraq.  

For example, when Hezbollah was able to tap into the super secret Israeli communications system in the recent invasion of Lebanon, resulting in relatively heavy casulaties for the Israelis, nobody asked who provided the intelligence and technology which appears to be beyond Iran's capabilities.

In a similar scenario, we may not have been attacked since 911 for several reasons.  (1) Sponsoring nations like Pakistan are putting a lid on it for fear of massive retaliations, (2) 911 brought strong support for the US and heavy casualties to Al Quaeda(3) the war in Iraq is having the opposite affect and is the best recruiting tool that Al Quaeda could possibly have and (4) with support waining for the US and support within the Muslim world increasing for Al Quaeda, Iraq is a war that Al Quaeda thinks it may be able to win.  And to that end, I suspect that Al Quaeda is getting some sophisticated help from a number of nations that want to see a superpower humiliated.
This is just horrible!
All while General Betrayus and his dummy counter part are over here arguing that significant progress has been made.

Non sense!

Let's get out and lets get out soon!
Read my lips, the Iraqis don't want us there.  If foreign soldiers roamed my streets here in the U.S., running over cars with their tanks and killing machines destroying everything in sight, I'D FIGHT BACK.  This war is a FARCE.  I have no sympathy for the U.S. soldiers
Scary stuff. But what I'll take away is that we've created a more sophisticated and talented enemy in Iraq; rather than crushing them, we've given them target practice in the form of our soldiers. Great.
good story of the hard work that our medical units are doing. on the other hand, I would rather not hear about it. But, if you are to get hurt you might as well have the best at hand. thanks
DOH!  Why do we think these people are rocks????  That was an almost perfectly executed ambush. Thank God or luck for saving our guys as the folks they are fighting still are not very good shots-yet.  Better marksmanship training will solve that and then we are going to see the body counts jump. God help us then if we are still half assing our decisions there.  Either we need to finish this or we need to leave.  Half way isn't going to work.
Well they do say that Iraq is much more secure now that the "Surge" is working, and even though it is exposing more Americans to be killed and maimed than before, cauallties are down by one or two a month. Though it may not be the "Surge" (sounds like a grade C movie made for a few bucks by a bunch of college sopomores doesn't it? "The Surge.") doing it but other factors. It might be the fact that it is summer and people don't like to be active during 120-130 degree heat, even insurgents. My guess is the death rate for Americans and Iraqis will increase greatly once the Fall and cooler weather arrives. However the Administration will have some sort of pitiful excuse for that, probably involving al Qaida rather than Iraqis trying to drive a hated invader out.

And the United States is that invader; we are not "liberators" we are "invaders" and were never asked by the Iraqis to invade, occupy, topple their government and kill their citizens. However we're there until the Summer of 2009 after Bush is out of office. The Republicans will never end the war they started, continued and want to last at least until their delusional leader is out of office, and the Democrats haven't got the leadership to contend with them. So hundreds more young Americans will have their lives cut short, thousands of Iraqis the same, hundreds of billions will be wasted before we are inevitably made to come home with our tail between our legs. After all we knew the war was lost and we could not achieve our aims, if indeed we had any, by May of 2003 after we had defeated Saddam's Boy Scout Troop of an Army and found the Iraqis did not want us there. To bad we hadn't the sense to leave back then and haven't gained it since.
How does someone from home the United States of AMERICA find out if a friend ,, loved one,, or a spouse is at the hospital ?? I haven't heard from a friend U.S. ARMY in a few days worried ??? Please tell me how  to obtain finding out information ??? Thank you very much .....
Get the h**l out.  Just, get the h**l out.  As the song goes, know when to hold them; know when to fold them; know when to walk away; know when to run.  No one in the current administration seems to have ever heard that song.  When it stops being fun, stop doing it.  And, Iraq stopped being fun after around the second year.  
I hope the hospitals be empty and if our troops do not leave Iraq, I wish 160.000 Angel mission be done in few months. We are criminals in other country and we deserve it. Our silence and complicity with the criminal in The White House only will finish when we learn the lesson in the hard way. If instead of support his criminals’ troops, the Germans got satisfaction every time the resistance killed a Hitler’s soldier, Hitler never was able to do what he did, and the second WW will not happened until now, when the Hitler pupil was selected for the presidency. ! Shame in our silence and maybe 160.000 Angel missions will help us to speak and act out!
How many yrs during the mid 1800s was England fighting/involved in this part
of the world? Will we be there as long or longer? The brits were there for Imperial expansion and we (it seems to me) are there for oil acquistion, another euphanism for our brand of imperialism. Do we learn anything f
from History?!


Yes sounds like the old surger is really working.  What a betrayal of our soldiers!
Once Iraqis realize US government is planning to occupy them forever and actually start fighting us, the war will begin. If we don't pull out now, we will repeat the Vietnam, but slightly worse since weaponry advanced in last 40 years.
this War is a disaster.  Our brave men and women should not shed anymore blood, nor should innocent Iraqi civilians for a horrible foreign policy of Bush.  General Petraeus played wordgames with Congress. On all indices Iraq is much worse off today than ever before.  Time to get out.
We are the most powerful nation in the world, let our enemies know, who we are and protect our way of life.

These ar the words of the Pharo, Romans, Mongols, Ottomons, British.... where do they stand today...

All the above commanded great, powerful armies and successfully rallied their people.

What is the Truth, Is truth is one which most people say it is, OR is it the word's of the one that speaks loudest. Truth is eternal undying.

Be Human live by humanity.

Peace.
i have cousins and a best friend who have served and are still serving.for patricia in marathon,fla. i believe in herat and soul,that god is there. and may he also bless you and yours,rick in texas.
You people are gone man. No patriotism whatsoever, you make me sick you bunch of whiners; I can’t believe you call yourselves Americans. Well I hope you have the stomach for Iran, because it is next. I am so happy, it is about time we shut folks up around here. Why are you not tired of listening to all of these people say we have lost the war.  If we would use little stronger weapons, we would not be considered losers. We do have the power to end their little lives completely. Please don’t ever forget that.
Dear Mr.Bazell, The calmness never lasts for long in this region. I'm sure the hospital staff soes not like seeing so many wounded soldiers come in everyday. The enemy just is bolder and bolder because they know where to strike and how. I think the troops are doing a manificent job at battling these terrible insurgent groups. They have suffered and sacrificed so much in this war. I hope someday the calmness will come and stay for good. Stay safe Mr.Bazell and all the troops! Peace to all!
Over three years and the US military doesn't even have control of one city. What a senseless waste. How much bravery does it take to fire missiles from miles away into a civilian population? Not much. I can't believe the US Government doesn't have a "conflict of interest" policy, whereby any politician who stands to profit from war is not immediately replaced. How much gas does the military machine burn up in one day?
When will we ever learn?
What effort would be required or if it is possible to succeed in Iraq is a legitmate question that no one knows the answer to.  All other debates are immature, self-serving, and highly destructive nonsense.  Hate the President?  Fine.  Special interest groups have done very well to blur the line in popular culture between the mission and the administration.  Wake up and understand the consequences of failure in Iraq will long outlive your temporary feeling of satisfaction from removing Bush.  

The Iraq legacy will still be there the morning after.  And that legacy is a fight against terrible, incomprehensible evil.  If I ask the question "Do you know what the face of evil looks like?" many of you instinctively answered "Yes, Bush, Cheney, Rumsfield."  Those of you who answered that way are truly lost and disconnected from reality. You wish to hand Al Qaeda and Islamic extremists a victory just because you and your favorite politicians (and celebrities) have tied their success to American defeat.  How inexcusable and pathetic.  If you ever truly see evil you will know how wrong you were to actually root for the bad guys. By then it will be too late.  While applauding Saddam Hussien's demise, I deplore the way we planned it.  I am no fan of the administration.  I saw first hand the mistakes and mis-management of the war as an officer charged with forming a new Iraqi Army unit in the "Triangle of Death".  I was pleased when Gen. Patreous took command and his policies addressed almost all of the things that I thought were poorly done in the past.  If anyone can be successful in Iraq, it is him. I hope he isn't too late.  He needs his chance without major presidential candidates, elected officials, celebrities, and newsmen betting their futures on his failure.  As someone who knows what we see and hear on the news actually means, I can tell you Patreaus has made significant progress.  

Losing in Iraq is not like losing an Olympic sporting event.  The outcome will effect all of our lives and those that follow us.  
Good lord there are a lot of left wing nut-jobs in here.

First off,  We have "Liberated the Iraqi People" from a ruthless dictator who practiced mass killings, abducting people from thier homes and killing them and dumping them in mass graves.  This is a matter of fact.  We did have, and still now have the same proof that Iraq was perfectly capable and had the desire, the funding, and the materials to create WMDs.

We have the testimony from the scientists, (Who are still alive) and who were part of that program, and we have discovered that their manufacturing capabilities were mobilized.  Though arguments have been made that such equipment could have been used for commercial purposes, no one seems to realize that the vehicles and equipment bore Iraqi Government Markings.

We "Invaded" and found a Regular Army General of the Iraqi Government in charge of a chemical manufacturing and storage plant.  The U.N. found several hundren artillery rounds capable of deploying chemical weapons against our troops back in 1998.  Of course they had to dig them out from under a pile of corn cobbs but they did find them.  (BTW Corn is not nearly a staple in the Iraqi diet like it is here in Nebraska.)

Also, we know that Saddam Hussein had deployed Chemical weapons against his own populace killing over a hundred thousand of his own civilians.  For those of you who might have missed it, I will repeat it.  He DEPLOYED CHEMICAL WEAPONS AGAINST HIS OWN CIVILIAN POPULATION KILLING OVER  A 100 THOUSAND PEOPLE.  For those of you who may be completely without the powers of observation, he would have to be in posession of the weapons, in order to USE THEM!

So we liberate Iraq, and we find the Iraqi people are not the highly educated, sensitive minded, emotionally mature people we might have expected from a civilization that has been on this earth for over 4000 years, but rather a bitterly divided, tribal mentality, gulag archipelego that can barely sustain its own existence with out the "Peace minded Islamic and Moslum" leaders blowing the living heck out of one another the first chance they get.

Here in America, we have folks that whine about not finding weapons of mass destruction, in a country in which they burry Mig-23 fighter aircraft in sand dunes out in the middle of no-where.

We complain that this war is going badly, even though statistically it is the most successfull massive military engagement that this country has ever engaged in.  Please, tell me what war in our history that involved the occupation and maintenance of two distinctly different countries simultaneously that has had as few American Military and Civilian casualties as this one?  I would like to hear it Libs.  Bring it on.  By the way, while your at it, when was the last time any democrat convinced anyone in this country that they knew how to fight a war in Asia?  You had two shots at it and you screwed it up both times.

In addition, we are facing a civilian population that has been mentally conditioned to hate our existence nearly from birth.  No aspect of thier religion considers the west to be anything other than a "Great Satan."  And yet the are starting to see that we are not the Great Satan but rather a group of folks that came in and beat that which they thought was unbeatable, and his sons.

As the Iraqis lose thier hatred for us and eachother, and realize, like they are now, that Al Qeada is the real enemy, as well as Islamic Fundamentalistm, you will start to hear more and more encouraging news coming from Iraq.

The other thing to remember about how infantile and disgracefull you all are acting is this; U.S. soldiers do not go out and fight and die in wars just to look down on us from heaven and see us ripping our own country apart, or digging into one another, or insulting our duly elected leaders, Likewise, Iraqi soldiers who fought and died during the invasion did not do so in order to look down on thier country and see it ripping itself apart because of a couple of power hungry, self-righteous war lords wanting to rule a specific area or to have political control over an area, kill each other and thier families in order to accomplish it.  They did it for the same reasons that ours did, they wanted to protect thier homes and thier families.  That is the soldiers code.  Not the warriors code, the Soldier's code, and it is a code of honor.

I WILL NOT ASK ANY LEADER OF THIS EARTH BOTH FREE OR OTHERWISE TO BOW DOWN TO A RUTHLESS, INTERNATIONAL, CRIMINAL ORGANIZATION, BEHOLDEN TO NO ONE COUNTRIES GOVERNMENT, WHOS LEADERS ARE NEITHER ELECTED OR APPOINTED, WHO WOULD DELIBERATELY TARGET AND DETONATE A BUS LOAD OF SCHOOL CHILDREN.  Nor would you, I would expect, if you were acting in anyway remotely considered, sane.

But we have folks who think that we should stop using dogs or naked women as torture or torture in general, as a means of extracting information becuase it will mean that they can torture our troops.  Folks, our enemy has beheaded our civilians on magenetic media and posted it on the internet, taken contractors out, executed them and strung thier bodies accross bridges, and you all are worried about a bunch of barking dogs and a thong?  Where do they grow pansies like you?!!!

Suck it up America, This is going to be a long war, I suggest you start teaching your children the skills they are going to need to fight it.  Because, in cased you missed the documentary done by Fox News, that is exactly what our enemy has done.

Although I must admit that seeing a bunch of grown men mastering the "Monkey Bars" in an Al Qeada training video, and the fact that thier marksmenship is so poor that when they fire thier weapons in Iraq, they are happy if thier bullets hit the Arabian Peninsula, does amuse me to no end, but it does not detract from the fact that these are mentally dangerous people who need to be eradicated from existence so that they do not infest the rest of our beloved human race.

Libs you need to realize, that the opposite of war has never been peace.  The opposite of war, has always been slavery.  That is why wars are fought.

John
If the simple question of, "has fighting in Iraq made our Country any safer?", cannot be answered by General Petraeus, then perhaps a more appropriate question might be, "has fighting in Iraq made oil any cheaper?" be more appropriate to ask. Again, the answer to that would likely be, "I don't know" for fear of retribution from the current administration that has so valiantly failed us, the American people.
I'm a patriot and I for one support President Bush and his efforts in Iraq.  The war was necessary to disarm Saddam and remove the weapons of mass destruction that surely would have been used on innocent Americans if Mr Bush with the support of the media didn't have the courage and intelligence to take the necessary action.    
The end of our democracy is upon us.  Stated by a conservative Republican who voted for Bush twice.  Please forgive me.
The end of our democracy draws near.  From a conservative Republican who voted for Bush twice.  Please forgive me.  Bush is the greatest failed Presidency in this century.
There is only one thing worse than losing money --- and that is putting 'good' money in after 'bad'...  It is time to cut our losses.  We never should have started this unnecessary, 'pre-emptive' war. The consequences of this misadventure will be will us for a generation, if not longer.  What a tragedy.
We need to launch "Operation Haul ASS" ! right away!
Heck with all the baloney laden spin from Gen. Betrayus and Ambassodor Ryan Crock O'you knowwhat!
I believe there is no desire by the White House to catch Bin Laden.  This is because he is the Boogie man that is used to scare us everytime things go bad for our President and the Republicans.  Boo, the terrorists are coming to get you.  Instant poll number increase, instant asociation of terror with Iraq, instant loss of support to end the war.  If Americans start thinking for themselves, they will be able to sort out truth from war spin.  Christianity is cheapened by a so called Christian nation allowing the slaughter of our young people to prove a polital point, or not to blacken one's "legacy". Iraqi people's lives are held at a lesser value yet.  The real truth is being witheld so as not to inflame anti war sentiments.  What a mess.  The wrong shephard is tending the sheep.
if you do not like usa why do you live here?
usa did not get free oil from iraq. otherwise why would oil be at $80.

iraq has its own elected govt and the elected govt is not fighting usa. therefore who is fighting USA?

Hope all you liberals who spend time attacking America and the president understand that our soldiers die for your right to denigrate our country. If we don't fight them there on their soil we will one day be fighting the religeous zealots (muslim terrorist) on our soil. I once was blind but now I see !
I am sure glad that Americans were able to stay the course during WWII.  Defeat was never an option.

The war on terror did not really begin with President Bush.  Remember the Twin Towers had been first attacked when Clinton was in office.  The US did not start the war with these extremist who have been around for a long time.  We should be glad that the best military in the world is fighting them somewhere other than on our own shores!

I too hate to see even one person die in Iraq because of this struggle, but I know that freedom is not free.  It never has been.  I only wish there were many more paying the price than mostly US troops and Iraqi citizens.  We paid to bail out Europe in two world wars, and now we pay the highest price to rescue a country where too many don't appreciate us removing a mad man and his two evil sons from power.

We need another Ronald Reagan or Abraham Lincoln type President to lead us to victory.
No one talks much about the thousands and thousands of our military that are coming back without limbs, eyes or the ones with severe brain injuries. They seem to be forgotten by the media.  We need more journalists to report on these veterans.
Pffft. Some people on here are just unbelievable. My brother spent 15 months in Iraq doing his job as a United States soldier. Thats what the army does, it wages war and kicks ass at the same time. I have to agree with Dan on getting back to the WW2 state of mind, not this crap and whether or not its "P.C." or what will the voters think of us? The military is there to do a job that was asked of them years ago, and now its being second guessed because of some casualties and setbacks. Let the boots on the ground do the thinking, not the fuck ups in Washington.

"Look, all I know is what they taught me in command school; and that is that there are certain rules in a war: Rule Number 1 is that young men die. And Rule Number 2 is that doctors can't change Rule Number 1."

Think about it...
I have read many of the comments on this page and all of them full of deep conviction and passion. War for any reason, no matter what the cause, affects every man, women and child, from every nation, in one way or another. There has not been an open conflict on US soil since the Civil War, until September 11.Though we had been vulnerable for along time. It was arrogance that lulled us into a sense of false security. So the USA removed Saddam who from the view of the outside world treated his country men with much contempt, unleashing genocide and human rights violations for many years. Yes, Saddam needed to be removed from power. But for months before the invasion, the media heralded the arrival of the military, so if there were any WMD they could have been effectively removed so as not find a trace. Which they did not. Once upon the path chosen by the US and our allies we then had to attempt to stabilize a nation we knew little about, work with a culture who is very diverse in its beliefs,its practices and a way of life we knew little about.Now is not the time to abandoned those who have no voice as a result of this invasion. Every Iraqi man, women and child deserve to have their country back as safe as it can be made, as liveable as it can be made.If you look back through history for one moment, you will see that anytime a society had been destabilised by war it took them years to recover, regardless of the reason for the conflict. In the type of conflict being waged in Iraq it is far different than one we had fought in the past,(except for maybe Vietnam). The citizens of Iraq are important, their lives matter, not just to their families, but they are sharing this planet with us, so they should matter to us. Do they not deserve to preserve their way of life such as we do here? Our reasons for going there may or may not be suspect, but now, all this time later, to leave them and pull out without atleast restoring security, running water, electric, food supplies and schools  would leave the citizens of Iraq vulnerable to those who could be so much worse than possibly Saddam. (Though he was pretty bad). This takes time, even more so given that many insurgents are from neighboring countries, fighting not because they are helping Iraqies(sp) but because they hate us. To leave this country as incredibly vulnerable as it is now would be condemming them to a civil war of possibly epic proportions. Enough blood has already been shed, not just by our American sons and daughters, but Iraqis, Great Britons, Australians, Italians and others who have lost their sons and daughters as well. I do not wish to see there sacrifice or their death be for naught. I do not want to see War or conflict or killing of any kind. All life is precious, All those who share this planet with us matter. I am no stranger myself to War, my father fought in 1945, my brother in Vietnam, my other half in Vietnam. All those I loved came home with many scars, some seen, some unseen, and I myself was  told I was to be sent to the gulf war, in the end I was spared.It is not my place to pass judgement on any one individual who made these decisions , this will be for God to decide. All I know is that if we pull out of Iraq before they have effectively secured their country, many,many will die needlessly in the years to come. There is no easy solution here and never will be. No quick fix. Not just the Iraqi citizens are watching us and hoping for peace, but the rest of the world as well. I for one would much rather show the terrorist who have killed many around the world not just here that , you can not continue as you have been, you can not hide forever. As for myself I would rather fight than to live in a cage of fear. Staying in Iraq awhile longer is not the popular thing to do, but it is the right to do.  It is the only solution that will restore their homeland to them, make the deaths of those who fought count, for they paid a terrible price, and leave the terrorists who feel that it is okay to take the lives of others in such a cowardly cruel way instead of seeking office or working in their societies to effect real and lasting positive change that this type of violence and terror will exact a terrible price for them to pay. Because they will never succeed no matter what they do. Iraq will be free. Our loved ones home, our honored dead joined with those who have gone before them, among the ranks of those who defended freedom, who defended faith and who protected life no matter where it was on the glode.
Support Our Troops...Bring them Home!!
I hope you will pray with me that we don't nuke Iran.
Iraq should sever diplomatic relations with The United States. If under the terms of Iraq an American wants to help Iraq we should support them in finishing the job.
Hey I too agree with the women from Marathon Fl. God if you are anywhere please be in Iraq and keep all who are in the United States Military safe from harm, and bring them all home safely. Including my son as well.
It is disgusting how our heroes are being protrayed as victims, or leaders in a fight for democracy as murderers, and the terrorists attacking our people and innocent iraqis alike being totally ignored in the equation by so many. We face a barbaric enemy, those who stand against them are heroes, those who ignore that this enemy would be over here again if they could are deluding themselves. Winning there is better to help protect us here as well as help the Iraqis build a better future.
to you Adam, Sharjah, UAE
yes the combat support hospitals treat Iraqis whether it be from combat, or the ones who set their bombs wrong and blow themselves up.... yea we take care of everyone
What the h*ll is wrong with all of you?  It is a very sad day when some of these postings (supposedly from other Americans) sound right out of the mouths of Al-Qaida.  Some of you actually think that those shooting at and blowing up our troops out there are freakin "FREADOM FIGHTERS"!!!  I have even heard such nonsense as comparing them to the French resistance under occupied France during WWII and the U.S. to Nazi troops; I forget, where in the history books is it that the French resistance went around blowing up their own non-combatant countrymen in market places, churches and grade schools???  For some stupid reason I thought that FREEDOM FIGHTERS sought to protect their civilian population not intentionally massacre them?  I would definitely understand a sense of patriotism that might lay in the hearts of those Iraqis who wish to see their country rise out of the ashes of what sectarian strife and Islamic extremists have brought on them; but does anyone actually think that Muslim fundamentalists have the freedom of all Iraq’s citizens in mind??? Let us get one thing straight right now, policy mistakes and miscalculations have been made on the part of our leaders (political and military) but when ever your thoughts and postings begin to align themselves with the same murders who brought down the Twin Towers in 01, you (if you claim to love America)need to really step back and take a good look at what hatred is doing to you or (if you truly believe some of this crap about the "evil American occupiers") maybe you should just get it over with and join Al-Qaida and go fight your Jihad against us? Don't think for one second that I'm just another brainless, right-wing twit out in cyber-space; I am a college graduate (top of my class)and I respect our political freedoms we have and the privilege to debate and vote.  Our country is far from perfect, I know this, yet the possibilities for change we as Americans (the sons and daughters of immigrants) have through our constitution is a great part of what makes this country unique.  If I'm preaching to the choir here, I understand it sounds a bit like rambling, thanks for reading this far.  For my fellow Americans who disagree with the war and want to see a military and political change take place, I want you to know that I completely respect your freedom to pursue that course; lets not forget one thing... we (those of us born or adopted into the U.S.) are all Americans...Right, Left, Center!  If you love the potential that our constitution allows for change and want the best for our fellow countrymen and women, you are an American.  I just had to write my thoughts down here because I am shocked to see the lines blur between “our” postings and those groups seeking and struggling to destroy everyone who believes that all were created equal and have the right to life, LIBERTY and the pursuit of happiness (for all peoples everywhere).  Justice and freedom for all!  


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Fight for Iraq
Learn more about the ethnic, religious and political power plays in and around Iraq during a briefing of the region led by NBC’s Richard Engel.