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A Georgia Soldier’s View On Iraq
Posted on June 18, 2008
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Sent: Tuesday, June 17, 2008 4:10 PM
Subject: What every American should read
Here it is, straight talk from a man who's been there and is there again, a regular American, a high school teacher, serving in the Guard. Who knows what he sees, understands what goes on, and provides the real picture of what we're trying to do in Iraq and why we need to finish doing it.
Del
A local soldier’s view on Iraq
Submitted By Stephen Boyd
Published: Monday, June 16, 2008 7:53 AM CDT
http://www.thomastontimes.com/articles/2008/06/16/news/local1.txt
First, I want to say hello to all my friends in Thomaston. For those who don't know me, my name is Stephen Boyd and I am a coach and teacher at Upson-Lee High School. I am currently deployed in Iraq for my second tour with the Georgia National Guard. I am a military police sergeant with the 278th MP Company out of Fort Gordon. Some of my friends sent me copies of The Thomaston Times, and I feel an obligation to tell the people back home what is going on here because the media does not do a good enough job.
My first tour here was in 2005-2006, and I was in Mosul (Ninevah in the Bible where Jonah’s tomb is today) in northern Iraq and in western Baghdad. Mosul is a city of about 2 million people and my job there was working with the Iraqi police, army and border patrol. I traveled to Tal Afar where we went block by block in the city running out the Al Qaeda terrorists. The terrorists were torturing and murdering the local population, and were trying to establish Islamic law there in September 2005. We also did over 300 patrols around Mosul and other cities up north. I have been in ambushes, mortared, my vehicle was hit several times by improvised explosive devices, and have been shot at by snipers, who were not very good at it! I have dealt with a lot of Iraqi people of various ethnic and religious backgrounds. One thing I have learned about Al Qaeda and the other religious extremist groups in Iraq is that they can not be negotiated with. They will not stop until we kill or capture them. Not just Al Qaeda, but other terrorists groups like Ansar Al Sunnah (helpers of the followers of Muhammed) would and will murder, torture and kidnap anyone they think is not in line with their view of Islam (there are over 16 interpretations of the Quran). Many Iraqis were killed while I was there by these people including many Iraqi police and army guys. That was our mission in Iraq in 2005 to 2006: train the Iraqis and kill or capture anyone that is a threat to coalition forces.
Many people in the United States want withdrawal from Iraq immediately. As much as I would love to come home now and leave this place this would give the terrorists what they want. They want to instill fear and intimidate the American public, but they underestimate the strong resolve of our country. This would be a tragic error and would cause one of the bloodiest religious conflicts in modern history. I cannot tell you how many times local Iraqis would say to me in Mosul and Baghdad to please get rid of these people. In Mosul, in the neighborhood of Al Tammimi, we had a family that we would stop by to give gifts to and they would give us information. They were so happy to see Saddam’s regime ousted from power and wanted to help keep the criminals out of Mosul. The Al Qaeda types found out and took their small 9-year-old daughter and killed her in front of the family as punishment in the middle of the night. Our patrol came to them a week after it happened and the father asked me why these people did this to them. I told him it was because they are murderers who don't care for their fellow human beings or value life. I felt like one of my own soldiers had been killed. I felt like I was powerless to stop these killers. They were willing to murder a child to get them to obey. These are the type of people we are dealing with in Iraq. They see compromise and withdrawal as weakness. They want to break the American spirit and drive us from Iraq, but they underestimate the strength of our military’s determination to kill or capture them. There are many groups who would love to see us leave Iraq as soon as possible so they can gain power here.
I don't think the average American knows what is really happening in Iraq today. I can tell from being here 2 years ago that things are changing. Our mission now is not mostly patrols but what General Petraeus calls counterinsurgency operations (COIN). The goal is to put the Iraqi army out front, like we did in Basrah and Sadr City recently, and let them fight these terrorists and thugs. It is also to teach the Iraqis to be good citizens, educate them so they can get better jobs and learn to read and write, and find out what is driving the insurgency because unlike the Vietnam Conflict there is no government with an army trying to control the government, just Islamic fascists who want a Taliban like state here. Right now I am stationed at Camp Bucca in southern Iraq. Camp Bucca is a temporary internment facility that holds 18,000 detainees. My specific job here is gathering intelligence from detainees on the general’s COIN team. I am responsible for gathering intelligence and implementing coin techniques on over 600 detainees. I work with detainees that are going to be released and to get them to put their weapons down and help stabilize Iraq.
I think the average American deserves and needs to know who the enemy is in Iraq. Some are former members of the Baath Party, who are not religious; just upset that they've lost control of Iraq. These guys are now working with us in towns that use to be part of the Triangle of Death like Ramadi, Fallujah, Haditha, Abu Ghraib, and other towns in the Al Anbar province. The Sunnis in this area have formed under the command of their sheiks what’s called Al Sahawa (“Sons of Iraq” or we call it the “Awakening Council”). These are guys who a year ago were fighting against us, but are now being paid to hunt down Al Qaeda, foreign fighters and other terrorists. When I was here last time these places in the Al Anbar were death traps and we called it the “wild, wild west” since it was located in western Iraq and so dangerous. Now there is very little violence there. Then you have the Al Qaeda types who are usually young guys who are jobless and are paid by foreigners to plant bombs and fight Al Sahawa, coalition forces and the Shiites of Iraq to bring the government down and bring a religious government in control. Then you have the religious extremists of Iraq called Takfiris (people who judge unbelievers). The Tak, as they've are called, believe that no one should watch TV, listen to the radio, play any type of games or look at women who are not fully clothed with a hajib. They will judge anyone they've think are unbelievers and then hurt them by plucking their eyes out, fingernails or cut their hands off. The last major enemy in Iraq is the JAM (Jaysh al Mahdi) militia. These are the followers of Moqtada Al Sadr who is the rebel cleric that has ordered a ceasefire, but wants the US out of Iraq so he can gain power. His guys are either gangsters or they've are religious extremists. This group is backed by the Iranians and they've are definitely armed by them also. Many of them have been trained in Iran, and Iran uses them to spy on us. Iran tries really hard not to leave their “fingerprints” on any of the attacks in Iraq. These are the people we are dealing with in Iraq and if we leave now with the mission incomplete, these groups will fight and gain control of Iraq or cut it into pieces. These are also the different types of people we have detained in Iraq.
Some of the goals General Petraeus has set out for the COIN team is to teach the detainees vocational training. Here at Bucca we have masonry, carpentry, reading, writing, civics, welding and even art classes for the detainees, most who are illiterate, and this gives them a chance at getting a good job when they've get released. We are also training Iraqis on how to be correctional officers and about humane treatment of detainees. The detainees in our compound have built their own library, which we stocked with books for them to read, some of which came from people who donated them to me in Thomaston. We even set up an inner soccer league for the detainees to play other compounds in soccer matches with a huge tournament at the end. We’ve also had them build ping pong tables to play on, dominoes, cards, chess and volleyball. In one compound the guards played the detainees in volleyball without incident. More remarkable is that we actually have gotten the Shiites and Sunnis to have combined prayers with each other and a round table of their leadership to discuss Iraq’s problems and how they've can help. Since we have done these things with the detainees we have had way less riots, protests and a lot more information on illegal activities outside the camp like where the location of weapons caches are, IED makers, Al Qaeda leadership hideouts, Iran’s role in Iraq, etc.
Many people will say that these people have been fighting for a thousand years and can't be helped. Others will say we should never have come to Iraq. The truth is that if we leave Iraq today, then Al Qaeda and the religious extremists like the Takfiris and Moqtada Al Sadr win, and these groups will turn Iraq into violent turmoil. The best thing America can't do is see this mission through. I believe the mainstream media has failed Americans. I noticed that the mainstream media was missing when we were opening new schools, water treatment plants and a hospital in Iraq when I was in Mosul. They were also missing when I stood in a tower in Mosul in August 2005 as I watched thousands of Iraqis walk for miles and wait for hours in 100 plus degrees weather to come vote in their elections. How many Americans would stand in that heat and wait for hours? I watched a young man carry his crippled father on his shoulders just so he could come vote. The media showed the horrible pictures of Abu Ghraib, but where were they've when we opened up the vocational schools here at Bucca for 18,000 detainees? Where were they've when my friend’s patrol in Baquoba picked up a little girl whose legs were blown off in an IED attack by terrorists and helped her get prosthetic legs and now she can walk again? These are the things Americans should hear about. Not just the bombs and deaths. Americans should be proud of what they've are doing in Iraq. We are showing the Arab culture the compassionate side of Americans. Whether we withdrawal now or later we are going to leave some type of an impression on Iraq. Let’s complete the mission so we know it’s a good impression not a cut and run one. Americans should be proud of their armed forces serving here because I see people from all walks of life and they've are all dedicated regardless of personal opinion to seeing the mission get accomplished. I am very thankful for the support I have seen from people. It makes you feel good about what you are doing. Let’s not lose hope yet. We cannot allow the religious extremists win here. At the compound I work out there is a flag pole, and on that flag pole is the Georgia state flag that was given to me by Kirby Banks and Upson-Lee High School. There it will stay until we leave Iraq at the end of this year. Thank you!
No, thank you Stephen Boyd for serving our country well. Finish the job and come home safe.
Danny "Greasy" Belcher, Executive Director
Task Force Omega of KY Inc.
Vietnam Infantry Sgt. 68-69
"D" Troop 7th Sqdn. 1st Air Cav
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Average Score: 5
Votes: 9
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