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7 Sergants and a Specialist

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Contributed by: Helen Frigo on 9/2/2007

Is the Surqe working? Immaterial, says Tom Friedman. That is what 7 of our soldiers, just ending 15 months in Iraq, seem to be saying too. It's not a matter of their morale; our troops will do their jobs no matter what.But if there is no "coalition of Iraqi Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds, who share our vision of a unified, multiparty, power-sharing, democratizing Iraq", says Tom Friedman, no amount of American military power will make that happen. Our 6 sergeants and a private, who wrote "War as we saw it", in the NY Times, 8-19, say, "the most important front in the counterinsurgency, improving basic social and economic conditions, is the one on which we have failed most miserably.2 million Iraqis are in refugee camps in bordering countries. Close to 2 million more are internally displaced and now fill many urban slums. Cities lack regular electricity, telephone services, and sanitation".Buddhika Jayamaha, Wesley D. Smith, Jeremy Roebuck, Omar Mora, Edward Sandmeier, Yance T. Gray, Jeremy A. Murphy, go on: "In a lawless environment where men with guns rule the streets, engaging in the banalities of life has become a death-defying act. 4 years into our occupation, we have failed on every promise, while we have substituted Baath Party tyranny with a tyranny of Islamist, militia and criminal violence."Tom Friedman reveals that the Iraqi multi-religious soccer team "was assembled from Iraqis who play for other pro teams outside Iraq... The Iraqi team hadn't played a home game in 17 years because of violence or U.N sanctions... it's a real team with a virtual country."Will us spending more Billions to Surge more troops into Iraq, or even Iran and Syria, make Iraq a real country? Or, as the 7 Americans soldiers say: "...we need to recognize that our presence may have released Iraqis from the grip of a tyrant, but that it has also robbed them of their self-respect. They will soon realize that the best way to regain dignity is to call us what we are-an army of occupation-and force our withdrawal". The 7 soldiers continue: "Until that happens, it would be prudent for us to increasingly let Iraqis take center stage in all matters, to come up with a nuanced policy in which we assist them from the margins but let them resolve their differences as they see fit.This suggestion is not meant to be defeatist, but rather to highlight our pursuit of incompatible policies to absurd ends without recognizing the incongruities".Buddhika Jayamaha, Wesley D. Smith, Jeremy Roebuck, Omar Mora, Edward Sandmeier, Yance T. Gray, and Jeremy A. Murphy's entire op-ed piece was in the NY Times. I hope the Stuart News will reprint it.

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