Dead Winter
STAHP
Yes, I was there...and I was in the Sunni Triangle as well. We got bombed at least 3 times a day with mortars and rockets. I got so used to it that I usually slept through them during the day because I worked the night shift. I would go outside and smoke before the Alarm Green was sounded because it got so commonplace. They attacked us while we slept and while we were awake; one of my friends had a mortar explode directly over his face in his tent one night, he died instantly and my other friend sleeping in the same tent got his foot blown off and had his leg amputated from the knee down. I'm not going to say it was nice because it FUCKING SUCKED, but as far as our objectives were concerned, we did what we came to do. There were setbacks, but we took over the country in 21 days and set up their democratic government after we got the fighting down to a low roar. The shit you see on the news isn't half the shit that's going on there and is only the very worst part of it. Do you realize how big Baghdad is? One attack in one part isn't even heard in another part. It's like Israel...it's not as bad as the media has made it out to be. Granted, the shitty parts of it suck, of course, but this is war...this isn't a vacation.
Again, by the objectives set, the Iraq war was a complete success. The occupation, however, is another story, but is still being written. And again, it sucks but it's still a lot better than it was in 2004 when I was there. It's a horrible place but again, IT'S WAR.
You are also correct that the US should never have been in Iraq in the first place, especially after it was discovered there were no WMDs. We felt lied to and betrayed by our own government who sent us there to fight for something that was non-existent. This was one of the several reasons that cemented my decision to leave the military after 9 years. Had there been WMDs, then we would've been vindicated and things would've gone a lot differently for the military and Bush.
You shouldn't really watch the news if you want to see what's really happening over there...just go over there and see for yourself. Yes, there are places that suck ass and you'd never want to go back, but the entire war isn't like that. They never show the troops building schools and hospitals and helping the children in the streets who have nothing to eat. I bet you didn't hear about the Iraqi people we flew to Germany on our dime in our C-17s who were injured by bomb blasts from suicide bombers...those places reserved for US military injured troops were given to civilians. They'll never show you that because they want this whole thing to be one nice, neat clusterfuck when it really isn't. Bush fucked up, yes, but everything in Iraq isn't as it appears on television all the time. I'm not saying it's a vacation spot, but there is really and truly a lot of progress being made right now.
Really? I thought you were Italian and had a bunch of cats... my apologies man. I didn't mean any disrespect.
