Letter From Iraq #08

Another week has finished and along with it we have also made it through the season of Ramadan.  For the most part it was a fairly quiet season with no major attacks on the base.  For a lot of people this fact gives them a little relief, but we have to keep in mind that just because Ramadan is over doesn’t mean that we are completely safe.  Hopefully we will see even less attacks than we saw during holiday but we have to stay vigilant.

Shortly after the Journal printed the letter that I wrote to answer the question of what my job consisted of I received email from Richard Ringuette.  Mr. Ringuette would like to know if we are making any progress here in Iraq.  This is a complicated email for a military person to answer.

One reason that it’s difficult to come to an educated decision on this question is the fact that most of the information that you get will be biased by the person that you are getting the information from.  Depending on which news station you watch they will only show you the bad things that happen in Iraq.  These days it’s very hard to turn on the news and not hear about the number of civilians that were killed that day.  Then there are other news stations that will try to report only the good things.  On the other hand, most of the military people that you talk to will have their own opinion about the war and our effectiveness in it, but again if the soldier that you talk to thinks that it is an “unjust” war then they will only state sources that are in favor of their point of view.  Therefore, every piece of information that I have about the war that I have received contains the opinion of the person that is giving it to me.  Any information that I could possibly give you would also be biased in the direction of my own beliefs.

The other reason that it is difficult for me to answer this question is due to its political nature.  The military states that I am free to choose where I stand on any matter and that I can state my opinion on that matter to others.  The one stipulation is that I am not allowed to state my opinion on matters, political or otherwise, while representing myself as a member of the military.  So the problem that arises is that I basically have to be careful of what I say in this letter to make sure that it doesn’t appear that I am giving the opinion of the Air Force or the military as a whole.

Having said all of that, I now hope to answer that very question.  I have been giving this email a lot of thought during the last week and hope that I can answer it in a way that will give you both sides of the story as I hear it.  In the end it ultimately becomes your responsibility to decide whether you think that, as a country, we are making any progress in our mission in Iraq.

A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to sit down to lunch (or dinner if you are a farmer) with one of the Air Force Generals that is over here.  He had made a trip here to Mosul to meet with the Air Force personnel and hopefully answer any questions that we had since, while serving in a mostly Army area, we don’t get a lot of chances to spend time with Air Force leadership.  One of the stories that he shared with us was about some of the success that we are having in the southern part of Iraq.

He told us that there are areas in the south that are deciding that they are tired of the fighting and the destruction and the killing.  They are now taking a stand against Al Qaeda and basically kicking them out of their towns and villages.  The people of these cities are now working with the military instead of fighting against them.  They have figured out that we all want the same thing, a safe Iraq that is free of terrorism.  As the Iraqi people see the results of this alliance, it seems like the results are spreading to other cities and towns.  I would say that this could be seen as progress.

On the other hand there are still lots of areas where Al Qaeda is heavily present.  I was recently told that a couple of Catholic Priests were recently abducted here in Mosul.  Incidents like this are still happening all over Iraq.  On any given day you can turn on the news and hear about a car bomb that went off in a busy public area and killed dozens of people.  There are many cases of people being abducted from their families and never being heard from again.  So in many areas it may seem like we haven’t made any progress.

In the end the reality is that we are starting to see some progress in certain areas and other areas still need a lot more work.

Well Mr. Ringuette, I hope that answers your question.  I wish that I had more examples to share with you all but it is really hard to find a source that doesn’t tell things a certain way to fit their own agenda.  It really comes down to finding a source of information that you trust and taking that information and making your own decisions.

As I depart for another week I want to thank everyone that has emailed, written, and sent packages.  One of the nice things about being from New Salem is that I know most every one and it’s always nice to hear how things are going back home.  I really appreciated that Richard shared with me that pheasant season was coming up.  Since I’m not there I miss out on a lot of the really “important” happenings in ND (and we all know that the opening day of pheasant season is a holiday in ND).  Thanks for keeping all of us service members in your thought and prayers.  If you would like to drop me a line via email you can contact me at john.iraq@hotmail.com.

Until we meet again, Have A Great Air Force Day!