Letters from American Soldiers
- RushOnline.com
Hello Everyone,
I am taking time to ask you all for your help. First off, I'd like
to say that this is not a political message. I'm not concerned about
domestic politics right now. We have much bigger things to deal with,
and we need your help.
It seems that despite the tremendous and heroic efforts of the men
and women serving here in Iraq to bring much needed peace and stability
to this region, we are losing the war of perception with the media and
American people.
Our enemy has learned that the key to defeating the mighty American
military is by swaying public opinion at home and abroad. We are a people
that cherish the democratic system of government and therefore hold
the will of the people in the highest regard. We love to criticize ourselves
almost to an endless degree, because we care what others think. Our
enemies see this as a weakness and are trying to exploit it.
When we ask ourselves questions like, "Why do they hate us?" or "What
did we do wrong?" we are playing into our enemies' hands. Our natural
tendency to question ourselves is being used against us to undermine
our effort to do good in the world. How far would we have gotten if
after the surprise attacks on December 7, 1941 at Pearl Harbor, we would
have asked, "Why do the Japanese hate us so much?" or "How can we change
ourselves so that they won't do that again?"
Here in Iraq the enemy is trying very hard to portray our efforts as
failing and fruitless. They kill innocents and desecrate their bodies
in hopes that the people back home will lose the will to fight for liberty.
They are betting on our perceived weakness as a thoughtful, considerate
people. Unfortunately our media only serves to further their cause.
In an industry that feeds on ratings and bad news, a failure in Iraq
would be a goldmine. When our so-called "trusted" American media takes
a quote from an Iraqi doctor as the gospel truth over that of the men
and women that are daily fighting to protect the right to freedom of
press, you know something is wrong. That doctor claimed that out of
600 Iraqis that were casualties of the fighting, the vast majority of
them were women, children and the elderly. This is totally absurd. In
the history of man, no one has spent more time and effort, often to
the detriment of our own mission, to be more discriminate in our targeting
of the enemy than the American military. The Marines and Soldiers serving
in Iraq have gone through extensive training in order to avoid shedding
innocent blood.
Yet, despite all of this, our media consistently sides with those who
openly lie and directly challenge the honor of our brave heroes fighting
for liberty and peace. What we have to remember is that peace is not
defined as an absence of war. It is the presence of liberty, stability,
and prosperity. In the face of the horrendous tyranny of the former
Iraqi regime, the only way true peace was able to come to this region
was through force. That is what the American Revolution was all about.
Have we forgotten?
Freedom is not free and "peace" without principle is not peace. The
peace that so-called "peace advocates" support can only be brought to
Iraq through the military. And we are doing it, if only the world will
let us!
If the American people believe we are failing, even if we are not,
then we will ultimately fail. That is why I am asking for your support.
Become a voice of truth in your community. Wherever you are fight the
lies of the enemy. Don't buy into the pessimism and apathy that says,
"It's hopeless," "They hate us too much," "That part of the world is
just too messed up," "It's our fault anyway," "We're to blame," and
so forth.
Whether you're in middle school, working at a 9-5 job, retired, or
a stay-at-home mom you can make a huge difference! There is nothing
more powerful than the truth. So, when you watch the news and see doomsday
predictions and spiteful opinions on our efforts over here, you can
refute them by knowing that we are doing a tremendous amount of good.
Spread the word. No one is poised to make such an amazing contribution
to the everyday lives of Iraqis and the rest of the Arab world than
the American ArmedForces. By making this a place where liberty can finally
grow, we are making the whole world safer.
Your efforts at home are directly tied to our success. You are the
soldiers at home fighting the war of perception. So I'm asking you as
a fellow fighting man: Do your duty. Stop the attempts of the enemy
wherever you are. You are a mighty force for good, because truth is
on your side. Together we will win this fight and ensure a better world
for the future.
God Bless and Semper Fidelis, 1st Lt. Robert L. Nofsinger USMC Ramadi,
Iraq
* * *
"I Ask That the American People Be Brave"
The fighting we are engaged in against the uprising of Muqtada Al-Sadr
is one that is extremely sensitive and risks catastrophe. Had we entered
this previously, it would not have been possible for us to win. Over
the months, we have been involved in preparations and much planning.
Thus, today we are scoring amazing successes against this would-be tyrant.
I ask that the American people be brave. Don't fall for the spin by
the weak and timid amongst you that are portraying this battle as a
disaster. Such people are always looking for our failure to justify
and rescue their constant pessimism. They are raising false flags of
defeat in the press and media. It just isn't true.
Last year in April while the main war was still going on to defeat
Saddam Hussein's military, I myself gave a class to my company of the
16th Engineers about the threat posed by Sadr and the prospects for
conflict with his militias. Though my fellow soldiers didn't appreciate
having to attend a class at 8am on one of our last days before deploying
to Baghdad, they can tell you that what is happening now is no surprise.
I used open and general information that my superiors were already aware
of.
The basis of our evaluation over a year ago was that Sadr presented
a formidable and possibly impossible threat. Last summer, as my unit
covered Sadr City -- the sprawling part of Baghdad that Sadr controlled
then -- his militias challenged us by making a show of force in defiance
of the effort to open up Iraq society to the new freedoms. Sadr clearly
demonstrated that he would deny Iraqis democracy and freedom in his
quest for power. By the fall, he had most of Iraq's Shia leaders and
the community at large intimidated and kowtowing to his bully tactics.
In January through March, his arrogance and thuggery led him to pursue
two further attacks upon the hopes for Iraqi freedom.
He vigorously pursued courting and forming alliances with Iranian hard-liners.
Upon returning to Iraq, he then welcomed many foreign fighters to train
and assist his militia in terrorist tactics and guerrilla warfare.
In fact, we almost went into full conflict with him back then, months
ago!
So our leaders, Paul Bremmer, Gen. Abizaid, and countless other US
and Coalition leaders all over the land, acted w/ caution and care to
secure for the US ever stronger cards against Sadr while simultaneously
working to achieve four main goals.
Now we today are in a climactic battle against him and his militia.
When the remnants of Saddam's regime were in full uprising in Fallujah,
Sadr thought his time had come to make his bid for total power and to
oust the US from Baghdad. He was very wrong.
It has been subtle and very well done by our leaders. You should be
proud. It would have seemed impossible to have achieved our four main
goals against Sadr even just a few months ago. Now today, despite the
message of the pessimists who are misleading you into despair, we are
have scored all the victories needed to bring this battle to a close.
First goal was to isolate Sadr. Second was to exile him from his power-base
in Baghdad. Third was to contain his uprising from spreading beyond
his militias. And the last goal was to get both his hard-line supporters
to abandon him, and to do encourage moderates to break from him. This
has been done brilliantly, and now we are on the march in a way that
just months ago seemed impossible to do. Sadr is losing everything.
Goal one: His so-called Mahdi Army militia is fighting alone. We are
out defeating them day and night, and all the time we find them exposed
and vulnerable. The people of Baghdad, Karbala and Najaf are not supporting
him. His forces are isolated.
Goal two: His one-time powerbase, Sadr City in Baghdad, has been lost.
Sadr has been exiled from there, and we have him on the run. He is trying
to cloak his presence and activities in Najaf and Kut as planned, but
that is damage control on his part. Yes we confront pockets of his followers.
Just a couple days ago, I had to maneuver around such a crowd of 300
in Sadr City. The point is, though, we operate in Sadr City, and his
followers are merely trying to raise the lost cause of his. It is perhaps
better to understand why he is able to mobilize groups like this by
seeing him as a mafia leader who is just sacrificing his own people
in a mad last plunge to grab onto power. He is no different from any
other thug in the world who manipulates and betrays his followers for
his own lost cause. The critical thing to see, however, is that in Baghdad,
Sadr is gone. He has been effectively exiled and we are destroying his
one-time properties of power and abuse there.
Goal three: Other Shia leaders are breaking from him now in large numbers.
The overall Shia leader of Iraq, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, has left
Sadr's call for jihad and uprising to flounder on deaf ears. Bremmer
and Gen. Abizaid stunned the overall Shia community by negotiating a
calm in Fallujah. That has tail-spinned Sadr and his efforts to intimidate
Iraq's Shia leaders. They see the US hand is strong, and that therefore
they are making a mistake in kowtowing to Sadr's terror and violence.
Sadr is now running scared in Najaf. This is great. The Iraqi people
of Najaf are offended by this Baghdad thug coming to their city and
trying to hijack them into conflict with us. His militias have moved
into Karbala too, and the same sentiment is being expressed by the people
there. Sadr and his Mahdi Army militia are occupiers of those cities,
and are insulting the most sacred sites of Shia Islam daily in their
actions. Sadr's forces have stockpiled weapons in mosques and schools,
and he continuously is going into the Imam Ali Mosque to call for jihad
against us. This is offending Iraq's Shia leaders very much, and the
Shia people are not following.
Our units, in fact, are operating w/in 500 meters of the most sacred
Shia religious sites in these cities, and you should notice that the
local people are not resisting. This is what the pessimists amongst
you are preventing you from understanding. Something like this would
have been impossible before Sadr and his militia thugs went into there
to hijack Iraqi Shia Islam. The people of Najaf and Karbala know we
are not there to conquer and occupying the religious sites; we are there
to liberate them from this would-be tyrant who is trying to hijack them.
His uprising has been contained, despite Sadr's desperate efforts to
expand.
Goal four: Now Sadr's patrons and mentor in Iran are breaking from
him. Grand Ayatollah Hossain Kazzam Haeri in Qom, Iran, is no longer
backing him and has instead made it clear that Sadr's uprising is not
sanctioned. Haeri is his mentor, and was a close intimate to Sadr's
respectable father. The Teheran Times has run stories that are largely
exaggerated, but still are making clear that Sadr's uprising is counter
to Iranian interests and does not have the support of even one of Iran's
grand statesman, Hashemi Rafsanjani.
In lieu of this, Sadr has exploded increasingly desperate and offensive.
On Friday, he offended perhaps the whole Muslim world when he issued
a fatwa (a religious edict) that if his forces in Basra capture a female
British soldier, they can keep her as a slave. And as I pointed out
already, his militia thugs in Najaf and Karbala are keeping weapons
in mosques and schools.
In this, quite frankly, Sadr has done it to himself. He has compelled
his would-be supporters amongst Iran's hard-liners to break from him
and to put distance between Iran's interests and Sadr's uprising. Along
with this, Shiites all over Iraq are breaking from Sadr and ignoring
his frantic calls for jihad and slave-taking. Sadr has been abandoned.
I'm not writing you blind to the casualties this is causing us. My
battalion, the 16th Armored Engineers, should be home reunited w/ family
and friends after serving a full year here. Instead, we are still here
where the temp is reaching 115-125 degrees. And some of my fellow soldiers
have fallen. Units of my battalion are right in the front of the fighting.
Your prayers are needed. [A soldier] lost his eyes and a hand last week.
The surgeons are trying to salvage his hand now by re-attaching it.
This tragedy is a real nightmare. Another suffered shrapnel wounds in
his abdomen. Others have been cut badly. Miracle of miracles, however,
Sgt. Morales on Friday was shot in the CVC (helmet) -- the bullet ricocheted
around his head and fired into the back of his seat, never cutting his
skin!!!
I'm telling you this because you need to know that your soldiers are
working their hardest. My unit is just one of many in this fight. What
you need to do is be strong and persistent in your faith with us. Sadr's
militia is in panic and desperate, so they are dangerous, but you need
to keep this all in perspective. The pessimists would have you believe
this is a disaster. Don't listen to them. I think some of them feel
that their reputations require our failure because they have been so
negative all along, so they are jumping at every opportunity to sensationalize
what is happening here as a disaster. Eliminating Sadr's threat is part
of the overall mission and we are further ensuring the liberation of
the Iraqi people. This has to be done, and we are doing it.
Don't be seduced by those who would rather that we sit back and just
enjoy the freedoms past generations of Americans have sacrificed to
gain for us. This is our time to earn it. I remember President Bush
saying after the September 11th attacks: "The commitment of our Fathers
is now the calling of our time."
