Subject: Open Letter From A U. S. Army Major In Iraq To His Church

[avtho]

-------Original Message---


Subject: Open Letter From A U. S. Army Major In Iraq To His Church


This says it all!!!


OPEN LETTER TO THE FIRST LUTHERAN CHURCH OF RICHMOND BEACH

It has been a while since I have written to my friends at First Lutheran Church about what's
really going on here in Iraq. The news you watch on TV is exaggerated, sensationalized and
selective. Good news doesn't sell.

The stuff you don't hear about on CNN? Let's start with Electrical Power production in Iraq. The
day after the war was declared over, there was nearly 0 power being generated in Iraq; 45 days
later, in a partnership between the Army, the Iraqi people and some private companies, there
are now 3200 mega watts (Mw) of power produced daily, or 1/3 of the total national potential.
Downed
power lines ( big stuff, 400 Kilovolt (Kv) and 132 Kv) are being repaired and are now about 70%
complete.

Then there is water purification.

In central Iraq between Baghdad and Mosul, home of the 4th Infantry Division, water treatment
was spotty at best. The facilities existed, but the controls were never implemented. Simple
chemicals like Chlorine for purification and Alum (Aluminum Sulfate) for sediment settling (the
Tigris River is about as clear as the Mississippi River) were in very short supply. Or not used at
all. And when
chlorine was used, it was metered by guessing.

So some people got pool water to drink and some people got water with lots of little things
floating around in it. We are slowly but surely solving that. Contracts for repairs to facilities are only 50% or less operational ] are being let. Chemicals are being delivered, although we
don't have the metering problem solved yet (... but again, it's only been 45 days).

How about oil and fuel?

Well the war was all about oil wasn't it? You bet it was. It was all about oil for the Iraqi people !
They have no other income. They produce nothing else. Oil is 95% of the Iraqi GNP. For this
nation to survive, it MUST sell oil.

The Refinery at Bayji is at 75% of capacity in producing gasoline. The crude oil pipeline
between Kirkuk (Oil Central) and Bayji will be repaired by tomorrow (2 June). LPG, what all
Iraqi's use to cook and heat with, is at 103% of normal production. And WE, the US ARMY, are
insuring it is being distributed FAIRLY to ALL Iraqi's.

You have to remember that only 3 months ago, ALL these things were used by the Sadam
regime as weapons against the population to keep them in line. If your town misbehaved,
gasoline shipments stopped .. LPG pipelines and trucks stopped .. water was turned off ..
power was turned off.

Now, until exports start again, every drop of gasoline produced goes to the Iraqi people. Crude
oil production is being stored and the country is at 75% capacity right now. They need to
export or stop pumping soon, . so thank the UN for that delay.

ALL LPG goes to the Iraqi people EVERYWHERE. And water is being purified as best it can be,
but at least it's running all the time to everyone.

Are we still getting shot at? Yep. Are American Soldiers still dying? Yep, about 1 a day from my
outfit, the 4th Infantry Division, most in accidents. But dead is dead.

If we are doing all this for the Iraqi's, why are they shooting at us?

The general Iraqi population isn't shooting at us. There are still bad guys, who won't let go of
the old regime. They are Ba'ath party members (read Nazi Party, but not as nice) who have
known nothing but .. and supported nothing but .. the regime all of their lives. These are the
thugs for the regime that caused many to disappear in the night. They have no other skills. At
least the Nazis had jobs and a semblance of a national infrastructure that they could go back to
after the war, .. as plumbers, managers, engineers, etc. These people have no skills .. but terror.
They are simply applying their skills. But we are applying ours. There is no Christian way to say
this . but they must be eliminated and we are doing so with all the efficiency we can muster.

Our troops are shot at literally everyday by small arms and Rocket Propelled Grenades (RPGs).
We respond and 100% of the time, the Ba'ath party guys come out with the short end of the
stick.

The most amazing thing to me is that they don't realize that if they stopped shooting at us, we
would focus on .. fixing things more quickly .. and then leave back to the land of the Big PX.
And the more they shoot at us, the longer we will have to stay.

Lastly, all of you please realize that 90% of the damage you see on TV was caused by Iraqi's,
NOT by us and not by the war. Sure we took out a few bridges from military necessity, we took
out a few power and phone lines to disrupt communications, sure we drilled a few palaces and
government headquarters buildings with 2000 lb. laser guided bombs (I work 100 yards from
where two hit the
Tikrit Palace), he had plenty to spare. But, ANY damage you see to schools, hospitals, power
generation facilities, refineries, pipelines, was ALL caused either by .. the Iraqi Army in its death
throes .. or from much of the Iraqi civilians looting the places.

Could we have prevented it? Nope.

We can and do it now, but 45 days ago the average soldier was fighting for his own survival ..
and trying to get to his objectives as fast as possible. He was lucky to know what town he was
in much less be informed enough to know .. who owned what .. or have the power to stop a
1,000 people from looting and burning a building by himself.

The United States and our Allies, especially Great Britain, are doing a very noble thing here. We
stuck our necks out on the world's chopping block to free an entire people from the grip of a
horrible terror that was beyond belief.

I've already talked the weapons of mass destruction thing to death, .. bottom line, who cares?
This country was one big conventional weapons ammo dump anyway. We have probably
destroyed more ground weapons and ammo in the last 30 days than the US Army has ever fired
in the last 30 years (Remember, this is a country the size of Texas), so drop the WMD argument
as the reason we came here ... if we find them GREAT.. if we don't, SO WHAT?

I'm living in a "guest palace" on a 500 acre palace compound with 20 palaces with like facilities
built in half a dozen towns all over Iraq that were built for one man. Drive down the street and
out into the country side 5 miles away, like I have, and see all the families of 10 or more, all living
in mud huts and herding the two dozen sheep on which their very existence depends, ... then
tell me why you think we are here.

WMD ? ... important .. have to find 'em wherever they may be (.. in Syria?), but not OUR real
motivator. Don't let it be yours either.

Respectfully,

ERIC RYDBOM, MAJOR
Deputy Division Engineer
4th Infantry Division

[DarkPhenyx]

1. He's a wanna be LTC.

What else is he going to say? If he had sent a scathing letter, or even one that was polightly negative, his career would be over. This is a man looking to make retirement.

[wtmusic]

2. No, it doesn't say it all

it doesn't mention that 20,000 Iraqis were killed to deprive them of their power;

that the US invasion of Iraq is illegal under international law;

that no nation has a moral right to invade another withour provocation;

Who cares about WMD's? I care, because that was the justification for this war. It was and is a lie, as are connections with al Qaeda, African uranium, on and on ad nauseum.

Don't hold your breath for things to get better. Those 20,000 people had families and my gut tells me they don't really give a damn whether they have a Wal-Mart on the corner now that their brother or daughter is dead. They just as soon have at us with RPG's til the end of time. And they will.

[Dancing_Dave]

9. Indeed it doesn't

This guy is obviously an extremely biased source. It's no wonder with guys like him in charge of running the country, things aren't going well. But then, thats not all his fault. Guys like him never should have been expected to be the "authority" there. They have no appropriate training for that kind of management, nor any understanding of Iraqi culture.

You can't find one source that will "say it all" about a complex and tragic situation like the ongoing Iraqi war for independence (from us). Honestly, one of the best and least biased centers of information I've found is http://www1.iraqwar.ru/index.php?userlang=en From a more cultural point of view, Electronic Iraq is very good...I'll post their address shortly. The British newspaper The Independent also puts up very revealing stories about what's happening there.

People in the United States will have to go through a long and often painful process before they realize the truth of what's happening in Iraq, just like it was with Vietnam. I at least hope we get another a great creative period out of this trauma like we did last time. Another real WOODSTOCK would definately be a step in the right direction!

[Maple]

3. LOL

Yeah, the standard 'pep talk' stuff to the troops, except none of it is true.

And they still haven't pumped any oil.

Pipelines keep blowing up.

But,hey...rah, rah, rah.

[Sushi_lover]

4. I hope to hear his opinions a year from now

2 months after his letter written, his opinion may have changed by now. 2 months later, there's rioting because of no electricity or gasoline.

But 2 months might not be long enough to change his opinion.

A year from now, I wonder if he still thinks we're on the right track in Iraq.

[avtho]

5. I forwarded it to Col David Hackworth

Just to see if he would respond. This is just what the grunts are bitching about. Brass lives in luxury soldiers live in hot tents.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

6. Not every soldier agrees with him...

check out http://www.bringthemhomenow.org
for the latest in letters of outrage from military families and important links to vet-related sites.

[Dimsdale]

7. Remember the nearly identically worded...

Pro-Bush letters which appeared on various op-ed pages around the country, all signed with different names/places of residence? Why does the above letter remind me of that type of propaganda?
I don't buy it. I could be wrong. Convince me.

[Divernan]

11. I checked this on Snopes and the author is an engineer

with the rank of major, and he does send emails to his church. This was first published on the internet the last week of July and his claims are suspect for several reasons. First of all, a Major is not that high a rank for a guy to be in a position to have personal knowledge of one tenth of the information he presents as fact. He's speaking for the condition of the whole country, for the identity of every single Iraqi who's attacked a US soldier (he claims they're all baathists). etc. This letter was evidently sent around mid-July and we know there were major riots by Iraqis demanding fuel after that. I think this guy just copies out the official pentagon PR line and sends it home - I'm sure with a copy to his CO for brownie points. What I find most repulsive is that he claims many of the US casualties are via "accidents" - and we know the army counts injuries from mines as accidents.

I think the original poster of this should have included background on this email - where he/she got it, when it was written, and what his/her opinion of it is.

[avtho]

14. I posted it for your opinions

I couldn't believe it was true after reading all the letters from the soldiers .

Was my first post and I got it as an e-mail and posted it for the reasons these replies have given me.

I must not have used the correct search words for snopes.com as I always check these e-mails there first. When I did search for it snopes replied they had nothing on it.

[ewagner]

8. Similar Letter

This letter is similar to one that was posted late on a Sunday night a week or so ago. It sounded amazingly similar in that it sounded the same themes. I didn't recognize the poster so I didn't respond. Apparently nobody else did either because it was long gone the next morning.

I wouldn't be surprised if an officer wrote this kind of letter. It's somebody who desperately wants that Silver Oak Leaf on his collar.

The WMD arguments are not, however, the kind of thing that the military would want ot bring to the fore. Whoever this guy is tries really, really hard to downplay those weapons..far too political for a major in the army. I have some doubts about the authenticity of this letter just like the last one.

[avtho]

10. I snoped it first

And couldn't find anything, I "replied all" to the sender in the hopes it would keep going back until it reaches the originator.

Does this ever happen? I think we must send these things back with replies at least in the hope it gets to some of those who hurriedly and without any forethought "forward"

[Divernan]

12. Try googling it and try Snoping it again.

You say you replied to all, but the only comment you added for DU was "this says it all ! ! !" which to me indicates you endorse it in toto. What comment did you put in your "reply to all"?

[avtho]

13. I don't endorse it at all!

In fact the reason I post it was to get the responses above. Evidently I didn't put in the correct requirements for snopes.com as they said they had nothing on it.

Glad to see it was BS as it is in direct opposition to what the guys are saying and what I have been seeing on DU.

I received it as e-mail and responded to the senders that I knew from other vet sites it was certainly not what I have been getting from those on the ground. In fact one of their major complaints was the brass in the airconditioned palaces.