Worse, the death squads were known to have infiltrated Iraq’s uniformed security forces, especially the police. The Pentagon’s exit plans depended on training and arming those Iraqi troops. But how could America dare to leave behind a covert army of ethnic cleansers whose members were trained and equipped by the U.S. military?
Marine Pfc. Rex Page Feb. 24, Fallujah
Hey guys,
How are things going at home? Warm here, like in the 80s. And they’re talking about a civil war here now, with the bombings of the [Samarra] mosque. People are flocking to the city. We had to shut down one of the entry points to the city this morning because too many people were trying to come in.
Army Capt. Jason Hamill March 5, Baghdad
Yeah, s–t’s been pretty crazy. Locals have been out of control because the Golden (Shia) Mosque was blown up. [ … ] There is going to have to be a civil war. It has to happen. If it happens while we’re here, so what. Our stance is we’re not going to get involved. We’ll pull back and overwatch. [ … ] The Shia are upset, though, that we’re here to bring stability to the area and we are not doing it (not taking their side I mean), so they also sometimes attack us to get the message across. We can deal with it.
Army First Lt. Amos C. R. Bock March 12, Baghdad
The best we can tell is it was the work of hardcore Sunnis, think Al Qaeda types. So who gets the blame? That’s right, us. I have actually heard out on the streets where some of these people think it was an American suicide bomber. Since that is one of our favorite tactics, I can see how the average hajji would come up with this idea. But on the [off] chance that the Americans didn’t have anything to do with it, the Shia were going to burn a couple of Sunni mosques and kill a few Sunnis just to be on the safe side. The Sunnis are now worried about random violence aimed at them, so they start shooting up random cars that come into their neighborhoods, including police cars.
Now for the government response. A 20-hour curfew will be put into effect and enforced by the Iraqi Security Forces. These forces include the Iraqi Police (IP) and Public Order Battalions (POB) in our area. These wonderful forces are under the Ministry of Interior, which is a hotbed of militant Shia groups out of Iran. Now, the IP and POB are the ones that have been given an order by their government to protect the Sunni neighborhoods against reprisal attacks, and orders by their religious leaders to kill Sunnis. This is a no-brainer: they go about killing Sunnis and shooting up local mosques. The few who aren’t actively involved in the violence refuse to do their jobs and stop the violence. The curfew may have worked in some parts of the country—think Green Zone—but it was a complete bust for the first three days here.
Lynn,
I just shot out the normal long email, but will fill in the gaps. First, for the day of the bombing. One of our [platoons] found the Mahdi [Army] killing locals just outside the FOB. A small firefight ensued and the Mahdi got the worst of it. They killed between 5-7 [militiamen], wounded probably [twice] that many and captured four. I ended up getting the mission to transport the prisoners later on that night along with my normal patrol. Two of them were IP. I wonder if they will get fired or promoted because of the incident. Since then the number of bombings in our area has taken off. We are seeing them every other day at least, and the route into work is not improving. They blew the s–t out of an M1 yesterday right outside of the FOB. [ … ] We are waking up to explosions every morning at this point.
Army Capt. Blake Russell Mar. 13, Baghdad area (instant-message exchange)
BELLINDA (9:18:14 AM) How do you feel about those Mahdi guys?
BELLINDA (9:18:26 AM) Good thing? Bad thing?
BLAKE (9:18:38 AM) I hate them
BLAKE (9:18:43 AM) They are a cancer
BELLINDA (9:19:07 AM) Are they just like a big gang or something?
BELLINDA (9:19:30 AM) Going only after the Sunni?
BLAKE (9:19:32 AM) Yes
BELLINDA (9:20:22 AM) The only story I had heard about them said that they had attacked a group of Sunnis that had been known to sympathize with U.S. attackers
BLAKE (9:20:16 AM) They ‘protect’ Shia
BELLINDA (9:20:34 AM) So they are like thugs then?
BLAKE (9:20:52 AM) They suck
[ … ]
BELLINDA (9:23:47 AM) Are most of the IA [Iraqi Army] Shia?
BLAKE (9:24:23 AM) Yes
BELLINDA (9:25:02 AM) I always wonder how they feel about their own population and the things going on there
BLAKE (9:26:36 AM) Like everyone, if they are educated they understand the complexities of civil society but the uneducated are easily manipulated
BLAKE (9:26:53 AM) It’s always easier to hate what you don’t understand
BELLINDA (9:27:16 AM) That is why people like Saddam try to keep their people uneducated….
BLAKE (9:27:30 AM) Yes
BELLINDA (9:27:55 AM) See, you are knee deep in psychology and sociology there
BELLINDA (9:28:08 AM) You thought you had it bad at home!!!
BLAKE (9:28:20 AM) Yes I am
BLAKE (9:28:25 AM) You are rubbing off on me
Army Maj. David G. Taylor Jr. Aug. 9, Baghdad (journal for his newborn son)
It occurred to me again that I don’t know how old you’ll be when you read this. It wouldn’t do to write things an 18-year-old might understand if you read this when you’re five. I think I’ll assume you’re young when you read this. Anything you don’t understand, we can talk about when you’re older.
That was on my mind the other night when I was sitting in my HMMWV [Humvee] on a street in Baghdad, waiting for one of our companies to raid a suspected militia warehouse. It’s a bad part of town. It was 0300, I was tired, and I started thinking of some of the more complicated aspects of this fight here.
[ … ] We were raiding a place reputed to be where one of the Shia militias stores rockets, IEDs, and small-arms weapons. We were the Shia’s saviors when we arrived in 2003. Back then, only disgruntled Sunnis who were loyal to Saddam attacked us. Now it’s kind of the other way around.
Shia militias kill Sunnis. Sunni militias kill Shia. Foreign terrorists kill them both to incite more Shia/Sunni violence, hoping for a civil war. All of them target U.S. forces, but the Shia and Sunni aren’t bold enough yet to admit they do it. [ … ] It’s annoyingly complicated […]
So what does all this have to do with you? Well, in my sleep-deprived frame of mind the other night, not knowing if we were about to get into a fight, I thought it was going to be very important for your mom and me to help you through the moral and ethical ambiguities in the world. Everything seems to be more complicated as time goes by. It’s probably hard for some people to not just throw up their hands and go with whatever “everyone” else thinks on a complicated moral question. It’s our job to arm you to know the right thing to [do], in all situations [ … ]
But how do you live those things in a place like this? Being gentle gets you killed here. [ … ]
Army Maj. Michael Mundell Sept. 1, Fallujah
The question has been asked, by many of you, what [this place] is like. Try to imagine this: If you go out in your front yard, take a weapon with you and stare REAL careful at all the neighbors’ houses. One of them may be on the roof, trying to snipe you. Also, don’t stay out too long—someone down the road just might lob a few mortars at you, or drive by and fire some machine guns, or perhaps shoot an RPG rocket. So, if you are outside, be armed and know where the closest cover is—all the time. If you get in your car to go to the grocery, you can never ever go by yourself—you gotta have at least two cars and at least three people in each one. And make sure that at least one of your passengers is a medic. [ … ]
The very second you leave the driveway, everything that is not immediately recognizable is dangerous. Is that a trash bag? An empty box? Or is it a command-detonated bomb. [ … ] Never let any other car get close to you—EVER. Check them out closely. Is it another grocery-bound traveler? Or a car bomb. Maybe they have a machine gun sticking out the back. If they get too close, wave a flag at them, shoot a flare at them, honk the horn and blink your lights. If they don’t move, or keep driving at you, you kill them. Period. Because if none of that works, they are certainly going to try to kill you. That is what it’s like here.
Army Sgt. Kraig Foyteck Sept. 10, Baghdad
… Today we had a big meeting and they pretty much said the only reason we are here is to show the terrorist what we can do. [That way] the terror-ist doesn’t want to fight us. Blah blah… Then he said he doesn’t know when we will go home but we will not get extended a second time. Apparently everything is a secret, so they aren’t telling us much.
Mundell Sept. 14, Fallujah
Audrey once asked me what the attitude of the troops is over here, about the war, about the President and so on. I have to say, it’s pretty darn cynical. You can’t see what we see every day (like today, dead kids [killed by an IED]) and not get a little cynical about it all. High-minded political phrases sound pretty hollow out here. Our standard joke is “we are doing (whatever it is) as our part in the global war on anti-terrorism.” This isn’t to say that any of us doubt that we are doing the right thing—we don’t. It’s just that things look a lot different down here at the point of “W”’s spear. The ones at home rattling the loudest saber aren’t here helping load dead kids into an ambulance. WE are. And that just sucks, I gotta tell you.
Taylor Sept. 19, Baghdad (journal entry)
Found out a few days ago we’ll be pulling out of Baghdad about a month from now. It’s pretty good news and also bad news at the same time. We’ll all be glad to get out of here. I can’t wait to get home to you and your mom. [ … ] But we all hate to leave an unfinished job. This place isn’t ready to stand on its own yet.
Army Staff Sgt. Ronald Lee Paulsen Oct. 2, Tarmiya
Remember when I told ya that as the forces swept through Baghdad the bad guys would move to the surrounding areas? Well, guess what. They’re here. For the last two weeks, the camp has been mortared daily. We lost one of our CA [civil affairs] teams to a roadside bomb. I’m really getting pissed off. [ … ] You have to hand it to the U.S. Army, though. We’re training the best terrorists in the world. We drive around passing out money and building things, and the enemy practices their bomb-planting skills. Sometimes they hit, sometimes they miss. They’re getting really good, though.
Mundell Oct. 5, Fallujah
It wouldn’t be so bad if we were taking an eye for an eye, but we’re not. They won’t stand and fight us, for obvious reasons—we outgun them, for one. This one injury here and two casualties there crap is really wearing me out. Worse, the jundees [grunts] are starting to get restless with the populace. Few, if any, of our [Iraqi Army trainees] are from this area. Most of them are from down south, from Nasiriyah and Basra. They are Shiite, and the people here are Sunni, so there is enough tension as it is. This faceless bombing stuff is just making it worse and worse.
Taylor Oct. 17, Baghdad (journal entry)
Just talked to your mom. I could hear you crying a bit in the background. You were hungry.
It made me think of the week you were born. I’d hold you on my chest. You would do this thing when you were hungry—the women called it “rooting.” Like a pig roots around for truffles. You would push your head back from my chest and then start bouncing it against me, over and over. Your mouth would start going like you were trying to nurse. Your head would move left and right, back and forth. It was entirely instinct, but you were so determined and so alive. It also was one of the funniest things I’d ever seen. I never failed to laugh when you’d start. I don’t think I could ever imagine it and not smile. I’m smiling now, even.
And today was a brutal day across Baghdad. I responded 5 minutes after a suicide bomber drove a bomb into a National Police checkpoint. Blew it to smithereens. Severely wounded about a dozen, and half of them surely died later. They were a mess. Killed one outright. As we were securing the area and treating those still alive, we took small arms fire. … Anyway, after all that, I imagine you rooting around and I can smile again.
Mundell Oct. 20, Fallujah
This is the sort of thing that goes on here. A couple weeks ago, Major Mouhammed, commander of headquarters company, got kidnapped in Baghdad while he was on leave. They let him go the next day. Two days ago, the [Iraqi] battalion doctor was murdered there and Maj. Lathe, 1st Company commander, was badly wounded when he went to identify the body. My guy, Captain Achmed, is late coming back from leave because he was threatened and had to move his family. Nice place, isn’t it?
Foyteck Oct. 21, Baghdad
[in] Mosul we were being at-tacked every day. Out here we are not the targets. It’s one religion against an-other, we are just caught in the middle. However, if we are in the way, they will attempt to get rid of us as well. The problem here is they [the officers in charge] are limiting what we are “allowed” to do. … If we get shot at, they want us to run. I mean, what kind of job does that mean we are doing? We take away bombs from people but we are not allowed to arrest them. Doesn’t make much sense.
Mundell Nov. 8, Fallujah
One more thing. I hope that no one is making any decisions about the war based on what I am saying. I don’t know what’s going on in Baghdad or Ramadi or Mosul or anywhere else. You all have more access to news than I do. I can only tell you what I see, hear, think or experience. I don’t have the vaguest idea as to who is winning this war, and I don’t care. My job is to bring home my boys and I will do whatever I have to in order to accomplish that. Lance Corporal Danny Catron, all of 19, his wife (18) and their new baby are counting on me not to screw it up here. I could care less what is going on in Baghdad. Or anywhere else.
Army Sgt. William Sigua Nov. 14, FOB Summerall, outside Bayji
Mom,
[ … ] Sure, by the time we leave from this deployment we might turn this city around, but you cannot erase the deep-[seated] hatred between the [groups here]. They have been mercilessly slaughtering each other for long before this war has been going on. No amount of American influence will be able to remedy that.
But I still don’t think we should pull out anytime soon. Sure, Americans are going to die, and the soldiers will complain. But if you were ignorant enough to enlist into the Army hoping to stay in the comfort of the U.S. your whole military career you would be wrong. [ … ] I am honored to have the opportunity to give back to the country that has given me so much, and anyone who thinks differently should be ashamed of themselves. If I do not come back from this deployment, you can tell people that you are proud of me, and I of myself.
