There is a great thread going on over at Free Republic in which people are posting pictures of our troops terrorising Iraqi’s…..we all know who said that:
That last guy there on the swing is the Civil Affair Officer for a MP Unit and he tells us that when reporters come by and see this stuff they could care less. All they want is blood and guts. You know, so they can bash Bush more while ignoring the REAL work that goes on over there:
Yes, as a matter of fact, there are playgrounds in Iraq (Please see the last photo in this series.)
I am the Civil Affairs Officer for an MP unit. I work directly with the people of Iraq. Once a week, we visit a local clinic to provide medical care, health education, clothing, shoes, food, and toys to these people.
A reporter, here, once asked me what my mission was and I told him. His next question was if I knew where the Infantry guys were. I never saw him again. The media is only interested in “guts-on-the-ground” stories. apparently “Good news is no news.”
I thank you all for your support. We are all in this together. Thanks for doing your part, it makes a difference.
I mean how dare these troops terrorize these kids with candy! For god’s sake man, don’t they know what harm they are doing over there?
Sigh…..
When someone on the thread mentioned how a relative serving over there regularly takes care packages sent from home and gives them to the kids the Civil Affairs Officer, aka KSoldier, said that she was correct:
You are 100% correct. The soldiers here take the treats from their own care packages to hand out to the kids. We are doing pretty well, at least at our FOB as far as necessities go. We even have a small PX set up here.
As for the generosity of the soldiers, You spoke of toiletries for the Iraqi people – Yes, that is a popular request. The last time we visited the clinic, one of my soldiers asked if we could stop by the mini-PX on the way. When I asked what he needed, he told me that he promised a little girl that he would bring her some shampoo. How could I say no to that? He bought her some with his own money.
One thing that is also never mentioned, this generosity pays off. many of the local Iraqis are more than eager to mention to us when “strangers” move into their area. The local Iraqis KNOW who their friends are, They just fear the reprisals from the terrorists. They fear even more that we will leave Iraq.
Meanwhile our press continue to harp that we are losing over there. I mean how could we think otherwise when we have lost 2700 troops in 4 years. It’s not like we lost 400,000 in 4 years of fighting during WWII right? It’s not like we lost close to 13,000 during two days of fighting at Antietam right? How else could we view losing 2700 troops?
Geez.
I know every lost is sad but think about it for a minute. Those kids above are now free from a tryant who murdered his own people at a genocidal scale. Rape rooms and REAL torture were commonplace. Three free elections have been held and the Iraqi military is taking over more and more of operational security throughout the country.
We have done pretty damn well.
Just ask the kids:
See author page
My son is pictured in the first photo at the top of the page. We sent him a care package not long ago. It had beef jerky, candy, gum, lots of stuff like that. We asked him how he enjoyed it. He said he loved the beef jerky but he didn’t eat any of the candy. He passed it out to the Iraqi children instead. He said he loved doing that because it reminded him of his 8 year old brother still here at home with us. THESE are the men that the press calls evil? Shameful.
I’m knee deep in election related stuff, having just finished my reflection on Reagan’s campaign advice in 1988.
Otherwise, I’d swipe your photos and post this.
Contrast these images with this clip from the movie “Obsession” which continues to air Sunday on Fox News:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbZGC5NKkOk
The U.S. is bringing children in Iraq hope. Whereas the jihadis are brainwashing them to hate and kill for Allah.
We’re in Iraq to change the evil culture of death which poisons the Middle East and the world.
No one ever said it was going to be easy. But at least we are doing our best, one child at a time.
My son was in Iraq from July of 2005 to July of 2006. When we would send him packages he would ask that we put in candy and little juice boxes for the kids. Also even though most of the kids were not Christian, he had us send him little presents to give them at Christmas.. Yea big bad soldier really hates kids. Next time he goes over there he is going to help build them a school, and make sure they have fresh water. Why oh why did I raise such a horrible son? So your son could live in a free country. So when you start on the bad side of my boys, don’t forget they have Mama’s and Wife’s who haven’t seen them in awhile.. and we are not happy…we will not stand by and let you run down our boys.. Thank you so much for posting this Curt.. we are very proud of you and all of our military over there. An American Soldiers MOM.
Hi, I came across your blog while searching for care package contents for the iraqi children. my brother is an airman who just left for iraq a couple weeks ago. i am part of a moms’ group, and we are putting together care packages for his squadron and want to be sure to include goodies for the war torn children over there.
anyway, you pictures brought me to tears. as a mother of two youngsters, i cannot imagine those children’s lives. and if a us troop presence gives those children (or their mothers) any sense of security, how can we deny our effectiveness. my god what these people have lived through. i think people who have lived extremely privileged lives over here (and if you grew up in america, you are extremely privileged) and make these comments about how “evil” our presence over there is, are just plain ignorant. not that it is a cake walk now, by any means, but the small freedoms the iraqi’s have gained from our fight for freedom, i dont know how you could discount that…….
anyway, thanks!
I thought you may like to know that the 7th picture down is being used in the Nigerian scams.