The Mission's Creep

Beyond the fact that Iraq is turning into a God-forsaken quagmire, what is the war doing to young idealistic American soldiers? Read below and find out. Mission Creep is settling in (see article on disillusioned Marines below). Back when Democratic president Bill Clinton was in office the GOP threw an outrageous temper tantrum over going into Bosnia and every Republican in office swore that it was going to be "like a Vietnam quagmire." Read this 1995 HERITAGE FOUNDATION piece and compare to Iraq today. Oh, and not one American soldier died in combat in Bosnia, we saved the country from genocide (the mass killing of Muslims by so-called Christians) and the war criminals are being tried and convicted today for crimes against humanity.

The Christian Science Monitor's Pulitzer Prize-winning series on Bosnia (and the discovery of mass graves).


Bush recently said on THE TODAY SHOW the war on terror can't be won, the next day he completely flip-flopped and switched into his Yale cheerleader role (at a Vets convention) saying rah-rah Iraq and the war on terror will be won by his mighty leadership, yada-yada, etc.! Without his handlers Bush is lost. And so are we.

Bush has screwed it all up in Iraq and our soldiers and nation will pay for it many years beyond the conflict.

Sam

U.S. Intelligence Offers Gloomy Outlook for Iraq

By Tabassum Zakaria

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. intelligence report prepared for President Bush in July offered a gloomy outlook for Iraq through the end of 2005, with the worst scenario being a deterioration into civil war, U.S. government officials said on Thursday...


Marines grow wary of even friendly faces

By Mike Dorning Chicago Tribune correspondent

Marine Cpl. Travis Friedrichsen, a sandy-haired 21-year-old from Denison, Iowa, used to take Tootsie Rolls and lollipops out of care packages from home and give them to Iraqi children. Not anymore.

"My whole opinion of the people here has changed. There aren't any good people," said Friedrichsen, who says his first instinct now is to scan even youngsters' hands for weapons.

Subtle hostility extends to Iraqi adults, and evidence of betrayal among some of the country's officials is causing some American troops to have second thoughts.

"We're out here giving our lives for these people," said Sgt. Jesse Jordan, 25, of Grove Hill, Ala. "You'd think they'd show some gratitude. Instead, they don't seem to care."

When new troops rotated into Iraq early in the spring, the military portrayed the second stage of the occupation as a peacekeeping operation focused at least as much on reconstruction as on mopping up rebel resistance.

Even in strongholds of the Sunni insurgency such as Ramadi, a restive provincial capital west of Baghdad, the Marine Corps sent in its units with a mission to win over the people as well as smite the enemy. Commanders worked to instill sympathy for the local population through sensitivity training and exhortations from higher officers.

Marines were ordered to show friendliness through "wave tactics," including waving at people on the street. Few spend much time waving these days.

But the hard reality of frequent hit-and-run attacks, roadside bombs showering military vehicles with shrapnel and mortars exploding on their base has left plenty of Marines, particularly grunts on the ground, disillusioned and bitter...




A large part of the homeless ranks today are troubled Vietnam vets who returned to America and found it hard or impossible to fit in. What kind of soldier will return from Iraq and what kind of future is in store for them? Over a thousand of their comrades have died and thousands more have been maimed and scarred by this needless conflict that grows worse every day.