THE 82nd IN IRAQ

How would you like to look up and see this coming at you?

Can you say, "Holy shiate! Run camel run!"

Dateline - today.  Secret weapon now in use on the frontlines. Through the wonders of the World Wide Web, the SHOVEL has found its way to Iraq! Sources say the Army declares it to be the perfect weapon for crushing terrorists skulls!

Seriously, though! Tony Spain, Specialist in the 82nd Airborne over in Ar Ramadi, Iraq, found the Shovel in a Yahoo news group and is now a regular visitor to the page. After a few emails he arranged a phone call so I could ask him a few questions about what is really going on over there -- as far as what the troops on the ground are seeing and feeling. This is a small part of our conversation. I think it will leave you feeling much better about what we are doing over in Iraq. What you are about to read here is not something that you are getting from our wonderful media. Imagine that.

First though, a few things I learned about Tony during our conversation.

Everyone remembers where they were, and what they were doing, the morning of September, 11, 2001. Tony was watching TV getting ready to go on his morning run. Not a run around the base mind you - a run around his parents farm. See, Tony was not in the Army at that time, the run was just part of his daily routine. Needless to say, he didn't make his run that morning.

What he saw and felt on September 11th left him doing a lot of soul searching: Wondering what he could or should do for our country. He knew the answer the next day.

After a back and forth with the recruiter, he enlisted in December of 2001 on a delayed entry program that allowed him to get his financial life in order. < see, the decision he had made was going cut his income in half>.

He left for basic March 20, 2002 and was deployed to Iraq in August of 2003.

WOW!

One comment, and then straight to the interview. The press never gave Tony and the other Americans who did what he did one tenth of the attention that they gave to the freaks who ran around with the "no blood for oil" signs. Sad.

Even sadder than that, the people running around with those signs are too damn stupid to realize that they wouldn't be able to run around doing that were it not for our brave men and women in uniform. WHAP!

Live from Iraq 

Timm -The liberals in the press over here just refuse to accept that things could be going well with you guys over there. That is apparent in the fact that they will go out of their way to find one disgruntled soldier and use his attitude to broad brush that his is the morale of all the troops. So let me ask you – how is morale over there?

Tony -The morale of the troops overall is good considering the circumstances. Our troops are focused on the mission and believe in the mission. They remember why they are here. There are times that morale does lower. When troops see the news media will not report the accomplishments we have achieved and instead show anti-war protests: That can lower morale. Being away from family and friends and the comforts of everyday life can lower morale at times but overall the morale is good.

Of course you are always going to find a disgruntled soldier, they are a minority though. Of course the news media always seems to find them, they’ve even got one running for President. The news media have never been friends to the military, I mean these guys basically compromise any information they can get their hands on. The enemy doesn't need intelligence, all they have to do is turn on CNN and they know what we know most of the time. This is what happened in Vietnam. The North Vietnamese have said more than once that anti-war protestors and the news media helped them win the war.

Very true, sir. Now, in that same vein, the press also seems to find every single anti-war, anti-military freak that they can and then put them up as a portrayal of how Americans think and feel. I have never met one of those people - I would have taken a shovel to their skull if I had.

Anyway, I don’t know where they find these freaks, but you don’t run into them while going about your everyday life. So, do you guys know that they are making a tiny minority look like a majority? Have they been able to convince you guys that that sort of thing is rampant over here?

Well, I know they have not convinced me. I am always in doubt about what the media reports any ways - especially when they try to show what a majority of any group of people or organization thinks. The news media has gotten real good at this lately. They go out and find 5 or 6 people who all feel a way that will help the media’s biased agenda. They then put them on the air and portray it as, this is what the majority is feeling. "Bush Exploits 9-11, families of victims outraged" is a good example. I could easily find 5-6 people who do not have a problem with it, or 5-6 people who are honored by it, but that’s not the story the media wanted here.

Yeah, I think you are right. Anyway, I do not believe the media has convinced the troops that the anti-war feelings are a majority. I think most of the troops realize that most Americans support them.

Have you ever seen any coverage of the pro-America rallies that went on over here?

This is important though, we can not win the war on terror without the support of the American people. It is important to make sure that the troops know you support them.

You guys have to know we do!

The media portrays it that the Iraqis are, for the most part, angry at us. I will tell you that most Americans don’t believe that. How do the people treat you? Do you get the sense that they are glad we are there? Have you seen a change since the liberation?

Most of Iraqis are grateful to have us here. The majority of the attacks here in Iraq are not from Iraqis, granted there are a few Saddam loyalists, but the majority of them come from insurgent terrorists from other countries such as Syria, Jordan, Iran, and Egypt. Some are Al-Qaida some aren't. Most Iraqis are happy with us, especially after they realized we are here for the long hall and that we are not going to pull out when the going gets tough, like we have done in the past in other places.

Do they approach you. I mean, I know you are probably always on guard, but what is the contact with the citizens like?

However we do get interaction with Iraqi civilians who work on the bases. The Americans have employed some of the local nationals to work on the bases here in Iraq and we have to pull security and guard them. We employ a lot of these Iraqis and the interaction with these folks is great. They are very friendly.

The "bring the troops home" cries have died down a bit, but I’m sure they will start back up as the election gets in full gear. I think a pull out would lead to total disaster and that it would actually make all the deaths over there almost pointless. It would be like spitting on the graves of those who made the ultimate sacrifice. Your thoughts?

The Kurds love us because we are the only friends they’ve got, the Sunni’s do not like them and the Shiites don't like them. They are pinned in the north with no place to go because Turkey does not like them either. They are currently living in concentration camps so we can protect them.

The Shiites do not like the Kurds and do not get along with the Sunni’s. The Shiites are the largest group and most educated. Almost all of them can read Arabic and English. They will probably end up with a big place in the new Iraqi government because of this. The Shiites are a very little threat to the United States as they were being executed and put into mass graves by Saddam Hussein and were more than happy to see him go. Saddam treated these people badly because they were a threat to his power because of their education.

The Sunni’s do not like anyone. Most of them hate the U.S. Coalition because we removed Saddam from power. These people were the only ones getting any benefit from Saddam. Saddam treated this group the best because he was a Sunni. He gave them jobs and now they no longer have them because we removed Saddam from power, and that’s why they hate us. At the same time Saddam did not allow these people to become educated. Hardly anyone in this group of people can read or write Arabic or English. This was how Saddam was able to manipulate and control these people. Without the ability to read they were at the mercy of rhetoric from the Bathest party.

We have made progress in Iraq businesses, and investments continue to grow, schools continue to be opened, and so on. However, there is a long way to go here. The coalition is the glue holding this country together. Even as the June 30 deadline comes around we will not be able to pull even half our force from Iraq.

The main stream media and some politicians on the left in the United States continue to try to undermine our efforts here with every car bomb and every soldier’s death to promote their hidden agenda. They accomplished this once before it was called Vietnam. We cannot allow this to happen again for the consequences will be far greater this time around.

I completely agree and have said that on my page repeatedly.

I agree that every soldier’s death here is tragic but a far greater tragedy would be to leave Iraq too early. It would create a blood bath and mass chaos in Iraq.

Baghdad would become the new epicenter for worldwide terrorism. It would send a message to our enemies that we will not finish the job, thus putting our national security at great risk. All our efforts in Iraq would have been for nothing and our troops who have spilled their blood here, would have done so in vain.

There is no doubt, Timm, that they are politicizing the most compelling issue of our time.

Before the senate voted on going to war with Iraq, military strategist were predicting casualties among our military in the 5 to10,000 range. Now many of the same senators who voted in favor of the war are the same ones who criticize it because of the increasing death toll. They cast their vote in favor of liberating Iraq thinking that 5 to10,000 U.S. military personnel would likely die in this campaign to accomplish that goal, and look at them now..

The death toll in Iraq sits at around 530 as of right now I believe. It may not be exact but its a ball park figure. There were more police officers killed in the United States in the last year then there were soldiers in Iraq. More people were murdered in Chicago in the same amount of time. I mean, I think Chicago has become a quagmire and we need to pull out and call the U.N. in there immediately.....Come on this is ridiculous.

Imagine if Rumsfeld had predicted, before the war, that we would successfully liberate Iraq from the Saddam Hussein regime, and begin the process of rebuilding the the country and establish new institutions of freedom and it would cost the lives of about 530 military personnel. He would have been accused of painting an unrealistic picture and some would have demanded that he be fired for being dishonest about the real prospects in Iraq.

I agree.

Those who voted to commit U.S. troops with the understanding that military action was worth the lives of 5-10,000 Americans now act horrified at the death of 530 in achieving a lot of what we set out we to accomplish. The loss of each of those brave Americans is a tragedy, and they should be honored as heroes. The hypocrisy of those who cry unreal tears over them as they seek political advantage is disgusting. We are fighting a war on terrorism and we should fight it until it is won.

Dead on! The spin never stops with those people, and the stinking media will never call them on it. Speaking of, do you think the media over there has been successful in portraying us over here as a very divided nation?

Yes, most Iraqis believe we are divided. They get satellite television, they see CNN. Our enemies watch this as well, they see the anti-war protestors and it encourages them to keep fighting because they think our division is a sign of weakness. So the next time you see an anti-war protestor claim they support our troops remind them they are actually just making our job that much harder.

I will, with a shovel! The libs are saying president Bush’s Thanksgiving visit was just a publicity stunt. I completely believe his sincerity and that he did it because he truly wanted to. What did it do for morale and how did you and others feel about it?

What a man! This guy put himself in danger to come out here and see us. He did not have to do it. He took time away from his family to visit us. He actually served the troops food and talked amongst them. It was such a morale booster. He completely rallied the troops and everyone was happy to see him. This was not a publicity stunt, it was a morale booster. It was saying thank you and a complete class act. Unlike someone else I know who went to Afghanistan for Thanksgiving. Who cut in line and made sure that her and her staff were served first.

She then learns about Bush's trip to Baghdad and decides she needs to go too. She used the trip to attack the Bush Administration and remind the troops that people back home object to what we are doing and that this war is one mans "obsession." She came to try and destroy the morale of the American soldier. I won't mention any names, but she is a senator from New York.

President Bush closed his speech in Baghdad with an inspirational touch: "Each one of you has answered a great call, participating in an historic moment in world history. You live by a code of honor, of service to your nation, with the safety and the security of your fellow citizens. Our military is full of the finest people on the face of the earth. I'm proud to be your Commander in Chief."

Let me speak for a whole lot of people in the United States Military when I say: Mr. Bush answered to a great call in history as well after September 11th and he is doing all he can to protect American interests and national security. He must win in November because he is the only candidate that has an administration that can win the war on terror and we are proud and honored to have him as Commander in Chief.

So when people ask me what's my opinion on President Bush? I will respond with Four more in 2004!

Indeed, why not! You have definitely earned it, my friend. God bless you and thank you for your service to our country!