Which Side Are We On Here?

[YankeeFan]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061004/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_rumor_mill

Every time I read or hear a news report from Iraq I have this lousy feeling that somebody isn't telling me the entire truth. Now while I can understand the need for a reasonable amount of censorship to save lives, and all that, NONE of the networks, nothing of cable or satellite news media seem to escape inserting a bias of one sort or another. I look at one side and see a 5 tonne pile of manure, then I look at the opposing side and see another heap of manure just as big and stinking.

I recently met with a Marine Reservist - enlisted - who had a tour in Iraq. His story pretty much jived with the story above. As his enlistment is up come early next year, he doesn't have to worry about being deployed again. (By the way, that's how I met him. He's trying to get a job with the company I work for. )

But remembering all the BS that's coming out both Washington and Iraq, just who should I believe in that story?

[KharmaTrain]

1. The Damage In The Military Is Another Cover-Up

I've met several Iraqi vets and have a neighbor who is now on his third deployment to Baghdad and his wife, privately, shares his very emotional emails. We're sworn not to pass them on o others or mention his name to strangers online. The essence is how demoralized he and his "roomies" are. Many have been with him on past deployments and how their mood has gone from "go get 'em" back i 2003 to "it's a job" in 2005 to "get me outta here" today. The morale of those who can't speak openly...the grunts...are the victims here...repeatedly exposed to a deteriorating situation. The same asshats who messed up this operation are still in charge and making even more mistakes.

I'd suggest if there's a VA hospital in your area that allows visitors and gifts to Iraqi vets, it's worth a visit to get some truths and perspectives you won't find on a blog and never will see in our coporate media. There's no "end game" here...no realistic goals and a long-term strategy that is doomed to fail. They also see the sliming a Murtha or Baptiste or others who have come out and said the emporor wears no clothes...these people feel abandoned and being set up for several falls.

Since jounalist are prime targets in this ugly war, getting what truth is out there is difficult at best. But then I really didn't understand the horrors of Vietnam until nearly 20 years later when a friend who was a Marine in the Mekong Delta broke down one night and related what happened on several search and destroy missions.

The Repugnicans have lost the military and now is holding them hostage with extended stays and retribution for those who speak out.

[bananas]

2. You're asking if about the dogs?

Not sure what you're asking.
Some soldier (army or marine I'm not sure) was posting photos or a blog a while back, showed photos of a stray dog they adopted, but eventually had to let go.
Not the same dog, I'm sure, but I don't doubt other dogs have been adopted and then ran away or were set loose.

Just did a quick google search - here's another, please read the story.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/19/AR2005101902344.html

A War Dog's Faithful Friend
Back From Iraq, Md. Reserve Officer Launched A Mission to Rescue the Buddy He Left Behind

By Ruben Castaneda
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, October 20, 2005; Page B01

Laurel lawyer John E. Smathers, a captain in the Army Reserve, returned from a year in Iraq with a broken arm, a wrecked knee and a chest full of medals.

During his tour, Smathers helped thwart a bank robbery and assisted in recovering stolen Iraqi artwork. He survived an ambush and a high-speed auto crash.

But when he got back in March 2004, he was determined to complete a final mission: to rescue Scout, a dog he and other soldiers had adopted, from the increasingly bloody streets of Baghdad and bring him to his Howard County home. Scout was resolute, loyal. So was Smathers.

<snip>

photo caption:
After a 17-month quest to bring his adopted dog from Iraq to Maryland, Capt. John E. Smathers was reunited with Scout in late August at Dulles International Airport. Scout had acted as a watchdog for Smathers's Army Reserve unit, above, in Iraq. (By Michael Robinson-chavez -- The Washington Post)

[intaglio]

3. As Pilate said "What is truth?" but that begs the question

My opinion? There is a vast propaganda operation going on and there are huge gaps in what we know or are being told. Some of the missing detail can be imagined because of the consistent appearance of such detail in other wars. The rest will remain largely hidden. With the passage of time historians will uncover some of it but most will stay in the folk tales and memories of the peoples involved.

What we need is sufficient data to make decisions about whether to be outraged and what to be outraged about.

Take the first question - should we be outraged? and the answer is, well, yes.

We know that Saddam Hussein was a typical petty tyrant who should have been unseated long ago but this is not a real cause for outrage. A better reason is the fact that foreign troops are present in Iraq at all. Even from the hints we have it is known that the US, UK and the rest of the "coalition of the willing" were sent into Iraq under false pretenses. The underlying reasons were probably many; electoral advantage and profit played a big part; but I believe that a largest part was the inflated ego and need for self aggrandisement of one person, George W Bush.

What is there to be outraged about?

At the lowest level there is the venality and profiteering of the military supply train. This venality is nothing new; Mary Seacoal may have been an honest sutler but she was a notable, hugely honourable, exception.

Then there is the almost incomprehensible violence of, between and amongst the various factions; factions of Iraqis, factions of Sunni, factions of Shia, factions of Kurds etc. This is also a cause for despair because what the invasion has set in train is a civil war and insurgency fueled by a vast and horrifying history. Because the invasion allowed this violence to explode we will be damned if we stay in Iraq and damned if we leave. Leaving would at least allow coalition troops to be saved the casualties.

Another outrage is the lack of control and denial of responsibility shown by the US officer corps. I have known and talked with British troops and they are always disgusted by the US army habit of leaving ignorant "squaddies" out to dry. If a unit goes bad or starts to rampage without thought of consequences it is the officers fault. The privates who commit offenses must be punished but the officers who let their authority lapse - or worse misuse their authority - must also be punished.

This tally of outrages could continue almost ad infinitum (and beyond :D ) but Truman had the wisdom to admit where responsibility finally comes to rest. It is a wisdom notably lacking in the person currently occupying the Oval Office.

[bridgit]

4. how long have you been reading the news?

cause it's been one contiguous fabrication from the Gitmo, as a practical matter; it all started some 16 years ago imo

a greater and intractable sorrow really in that it impacts upon the world, that the current bush admin has so little regard for the truth, whole or otherwise