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I've lurked here for a long time and never posted because my betters pretty much had more experience and more information than I did. However, coming home from Iraq on R&R and hearing all the silly drivel on the news about how we shouldn't be in Iraq and we're losing the war or at least the hearts and minds of the Iraqis I thought I would share my experiences there.
I'm based about 100 km south of Baghdad, as the crow flies. It is a rural, farming and herding area. The land is crossed with canals fed from the Hilla River and grows wheat, date palms and supports lots of sheep and goats. There are numerous small towns and villages there. We do mounted patrols in humvees through the area and have worked the day and the night shift.
The area is fairly peaceful, as the people there just would like to farm and raise their families. They let us know if anyone new comes into the area. For the most part, they are friendly and very happy that we are there. They're happy for two reasons: one is, when Sadaam was in power he shut off the canals to these people, (no water, no food; and you can see it in the stunted development of their teens); he wouldn't allow these people to have electricity or to build anything with bricks. The other reason they're happy we're there is that the Iraqi police aren't quite up to speed, yet; so they view us as the police. Even at our nightly TCP's, they seem to be happy to be stopped by us, or maybe they're relieved that its us and not bandits. At any rate there is not much animocity towards us.
The reason that I think things are getting better instead of worse is that people are thinking of the future. By that I mean: 1) They voted. We provided a reaction force during the voting and for the next week after the vote, everyone wanted to show us his purple finger, proud that they voted. 2)People are planting date palm groves, building brick houses, opening new stores, rebuilding the infrastructure in their towns, widening canal roads and buying cars and trucks. These are not things that people do if they are uncertain about their future.
Do people want us to leave? Absolutely! Do they want us to go, now? Not really. I can only tell you how it appears to me, but they seem happy to be able to live their lives without persecution, happy that we're able to give them some security but they don't want us to hang around their country any longer than is necessary for them to get back on their feet.
We'll see if they're able to do it. Democracy and freedom aren't easily exportable items.
I'm based about 100 km south of Baghdad, as the crow flies. It is a rural, farming and herding area. The land is crossed with canals fed from the Hilla River and grows wheat, date palms and supports lots of sheep and goats. There are numerous small towns and villages there. We do mounted patrols in humvees through the area and have worked the day and the night shift.
The area is fairly peaceful, as the people there just would like to farm and raise their families. They let us know if anyone new comes into the area. For the most part, they are friendly and very happy that we are there. They're happy for two reasons: one is, when Sadaam was in power he shut off the canals to these people, (no water, no food; and you can see it in the stunted development of their teens); he wouldn't allow these people to have electricity or to build anything with bricks. The other reason they're happy we're there is that the Iraqi police aren't quite up to speed, yet; so they view us as the police. Even at our nightly TCP's, they seem to be happy to be stopped by us, or maybe they're relieved that its us and not bandits. At any rate there is not much animocity towards us.
The reason that I think things are getting better instead of worse is that people are thinking of the future. By that I mean: 1) They voted. We provided a reaction force during the voting and for the next week after the vote, everyone wanted to show us his purple finger, proud that they voted. 2)People are planting date palm groves, building brick houses, opening new stores, rebuilding the infrastructure in their towns, widening canal roads and buying cars and trucks. These are not things that people do if they are uncertain about their future.
Do people want us to leave? Absolutely! Do they want us to go, now? Not really. I can only tell you how it appears to me, but they seem happy to be able to live their lives without persecution, happy that we're able to give them some security but they don't want us to hang around their country any longer than is necessary for them to get back on their feet.
We'll see if they're able to do it. Democracy and freedom aren't easily exportable items.