dead soldier's blog shows whats really happening in iraq...

[Freakaloin]

He wrote this on his weblog Aug. 13, two days before he was killed in Iraq:

MotherFucker.

I'm back home.

Mahmudijah.

The Mahm.

St. Michael.

What have you.

My truck, which I left here in good working order, is destroyed mostly.

The insurgency is on the rise in our area, with a most impressive coordinated assault on one of my sister FOBs (St. Joe) under their belt. Apparently they have enough folks and sophistication in my back yard where they can simultaneously place accurate mortar rounds on three seperate locations (at least 30k apart) to tie up any ground mounted quick reaction forces, as well as offer up multiple RPG strikes on the guard towers at Joe. These RPG attacks really bring out the QRF who face their own ambush as they come out the gate, at least 12 insurgents occupying buildings with an overwatch position to Joe's only entrance armed with more rpg's and small arms. The only possible responses are tanks or Apaches. Luckily we have both on call. 12 dead insurgents, destroyed buildings, a compromised FOB, sustained, accurate and unaswered indirect fire and lots o unanswered questions later... I'm here.

What the fuck has my chain of command been doing? We were winning somewhat when I left. And now we're being pinned down in our own fucking homes? Insurgents are pushing locals out of their homes and taking over my area at will? What kind of fucktarded plan have we been half-assedly executing? Obviously the kind that neglects sound contact with locals. Obviously the kind that gives further distance to unbridged gaps between soldiers and locals. Obviously the kind that has shown enough weakness when confronted by the insugency that it has been encouraged to grow.

Back home (the USA kind) I have no home, no job, and my commander in chief is on vacation (he's about 20 days behind Ronald Reagan right now in the race to become the most vacationing president ever. Hey W! we all got our fingers crossed! Here's to you and two more years of presidency...er vacationing!). Luckily pretty much everything that is important to me can fit into the back of a truck. Luckily I just paid off one of those.

In their fear to build relationships and get out of their hiding holes the FOBbits above me have fucked my friends and I.

We've just completed the first 1/4 of our tour. we've sent 4 of 24 members of this platoon home with injuries.

Thankfully we're not like another who has sent 8 home in body bags...but we got 9 months to go.

Stay true lambs, REV


http://rawstory.com/news/2005/Killed_so ... _0830.html

questions?...

[Duhard]

...reliable sources?

[Dek]

yeah, don't see it anywhere other then rawstory.. drudge links to rawstory as well.

[[xeno]Julios]

i wouldn't be surprised if what he's saying is close to the actual situation there.

This is a good read:

http://www.exile.ru/2005-May-20/war_nerd.html


(3 months old)

[Dek]

you know there are also some positive things happening as well.. don't ya? Not the shit bush is spouting but schools, etc opening up utilities, etc..

[[xeno]Julios]

schools and hospitals were there before bush invaded though. I think Iraq had one of the highest literacy rates in the mid east if not the world.

[Dek]

schools and hospitals were there before bush invaded though. I think Iraq had one of the highest literacy rates in the mid east if not the world.

yeah, and if you didn't do something correctly they sent you to a childrens prison.. Not saying it's a grand place to be or that it's right, but..


No shit geoff, iraq is fucked up.. go figure.. now we gotta wait until they get their shit together... unfortunately.

[Big Kahuna Burger]

I think Iraq had one of the highest literacy rates in the mid east if not the world.

[Massive Quasars]

Why is that funny?

[[xeno]Julios]

i think it was 95% before 1990

[Dek]

i think it was 95% before 1990

You are wrong:

http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/ira ... stics.html

Adult literacy rate,male (1990)
51

Adult literacy rate,female (1990)
20

Adult literacy rate,male (2000)
55

Adult literacy rate,female (2000)
23



http://www.indexmundi.com/iraq/literacy.html

definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 40.4%
male: 55.9%
female: 24.4% (2003 est.)

[HM-PuFFNSTuFF]

i think it was 95% before 1990

You are wrong:

http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/ira ... stics.html

Adult literacy rate,male (1990)
51

Adult literacy rate,female (1990)
20

Adult literacy rate,male (2000)
55

Adult literacy rate,female (2000)
23



http://www.indexmundi.com/iraq/literacy.html

definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 40.4%
male: 55.9%
female: 24.4% (2003 est.)

he is right. you're quoting a figure for 2003

[[xeno]Julios]

""The change in 10 years is unparalleled, in my experience," Anupama Rao Singh, Unicef's senior representative in Iraq, told me. "In 1989, the literacy rate was 95%; and 93% of the population had free access to modern health facilities. Parents were fined for failing to send their children to school. The phenomenon of street children or children begging was unheard of. Iraq had reached a stage where the basic indicators we use to measure the overall well-being of human beings, including children, were some of the best in the world. Now it is among the bottom 20%. In 10 years, child mortality has gone from one of the lowest in the world, to the highest."

John Pilger, cited here:

http://www.globalissues.org/Geopolitics ... ctions.asp

I went to Pilger's original piece:

He was quoting Anupama Rao Singh, Unicef's senior representative in Iraq.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/weekend/story ... 86,00.html

[Dek]

still wrong:

http://www.animalinfo.org/country/iraq.htm

Education
Percent of females in secondary education (1989): 37 % (World Bank 1992)
Percent adult literacy: Female: 49 % (1990), 18 % (1970); Male: 70 % (1990), 50 % (1970) (WRI 1994)

http://www.atlapedia.com/online/countries/iraq.htm
EDUCATION: Aged 25 or over and having attained: N/A. Literacy; literate population aged 15 or over 6,030,000 or 59.7% (1990).


Again, I'm not saying it's a grand place to be; I'm just stating there is a large gray area where the truth is, between what you believe and what Bush spouts and that is where the truth lies..

Geoff and his followers.. :icon27:



They site no sources other then hearsay and based on 'his' experience only, not based on any kind of facts. These figures are figures from various sources.

[Dek]

here's some more:

http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2001/gulf.war/updates/iraq/


Literacy:
58% (1995)
55-65% (1989)
30% (1978)

[Dek]

I just simply can't find ANY facts to back up his claim of 90-95% literacy across the board. ANYWHERE.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/libra ... -anx-d.htm

According to the HDI, an Iraqi born in 1987 could expect to live 65 years while citizens in bordering Jordan had a life expectancy of 67 years. By 1998 an Iraqi was expected to live only 63.8 years while a Jordanian saw an increase in life expectancy 70.4 years in 1998. Compared to Jordan, where the literacy rate rose from 75 percent in 1985 to 88.6 percent in 1998, Iraq’s had dropped from 89 percent to 73.5 percent. In 1990, Iraq ranked three places above Jordan on the HDI. In 2000, Iraq placed 34 below Jordan.

[Geebs]

i think it was 95% before 1990

You are wrong:

http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/ira ... stics.html

Adult literacy rate,male (1990)
51

Adult literacy rate,female (1990)
20

Adult literacy rate,male (2000)
55

Adult literacy rate,female (2000)
23



http://www.indexmundi.com/iraq/literacy.html

definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 40.4%
male: 55.9%
female: 24.4% (2003 est.)

he is right. you're quoting a figure for 2003

So you're too much of a lefty to notice the figures from 1990 he also quoted?

[Geebs]

He wrote this on his weblog Aug. 13, two days before he was killed in Iraq:

MotherFucker.

I'm back home.

Mahmudijah.

The Mahm.

St. Michael.

What have you.

My truck, which I left here in good working order, is destroyed mostly.

The insurgency is on the rise in our area, with a most impressive coordinated assault on one of my sister FOBs (St. Joe) under their belt. Apparently they have enough folks and sophistication in my back yard where they can simultaneously place accurate mortar rounds on three seperate locations (at least 30k apart) to tie up any ground mounted quick reaction forces, as well as offer up multiple RPG strikes on the guard towers at Joe. These RPG attacks really bring out the QRF who face their own ambush as they come out the gate, at least 12 insurgents occupying buildings with an overwatch position to Joe's only entrance armed with more rpg's and small arms. The only possible responses are tanks or Apaches. Luckily we have both on call. 12 dead insurgents, destroyed buildings, a compromised FOB, sustained, accurate and unaswered indirect fire and lots o unanswered questions later... I'm here.

What the fuck has my chain of command been doing? We were winning somewhat when I left. And now we're being pinned down in our own fucking homes? Insurgents are pushing locals out of their homes and taking over my area at will? What kind of fucktarded plan have we been half-assedly executing? Obviously the kind that neglects sound contact with locals. Obviously the kind that gives further distance to unbridged gaps between soldiers and locals. Obviously the kind that has shown enough weakness when confronted by the insugency that it has been encouraged to grow.

Back home (the USA kind) I have no home, no job, and my commander in chief is on vacation (he's about 20 days behind Ronald Reagan right now in the race to become the most vacationing president ever. Hey W! we all got our fingers crossed! Here's to you and two more years of presidency...er vacationing!). Luckily pretty much everything that is important to me can fit into the back of a truck. Luckily I just paid off one of those.

In their fear to build relationships and get out of their hiding holes the FOBbits above me have fucked my friends and I.

We've just completed the first 1/4 of our tour. we've sent 4 of 24 members of this platoon home with injuries.

Thankfully we're not like another who has sent 8 home in body bags...but we got 9 months to go.

Stay true lambs, REV


http://rawstory.com/news/2005/Killed_so ... _0830.html

questions?...

Geoff you utter retard, no soldier would write like that. "sent home with injuries", lol

[losCHUNK]

hes getting paid to do a job with risks he knows about, if you dont want a job that you dont want to die in then the army probaly isnt the best place to apply for

[Dek]

If it was a valid soldier blog; he would of probably been discharged if it was found to be doing it on company time which is 24/7 while in the military, a lot of the information contained on the blog could be considered valuable to the enemy as well.

You also are not allowed to make any political opinions while wearing the uniform you are supposed to be apolitical and you do everything the commander in chief has asked you to do..

You also cannot speak to the media unless cleared to by your public rep person.. I spent 4 years in the active duty Air Force, wife spent 10 as reservist and was over in Kuwait.. the last thing we thought about when entering the service was to die for some stupid reason like a pre-emptive strike, we only wanted cash for college and to learn a trade to help our careers. I learned IT while I was in, and it luckily paid off..

[Ryoki]

You also are not allowed to make any political opinions while wearing the uniform you are supposed to be apolitical and you do everything the commander in chief has asked you to do..

Jawohl herr Obersturmfuhrer! Zum gleich!

[Dek]

You also are not allowed to make any political opinions while wearing the uniform you are supposed to be apolitical and you do everything the commander in chief has asked you to do..

Jawohl herr Obersturmfuhrer! Zum gleich!

it's to maintain morale and structure within the ranks.. You can of course have those opinions, you just can't express them to the media. It's a little more lenient I'm guessing with news crews nowadays on the front lines with you, but yeah it's in the UCMJ.

You pretty much give up a few freedoms when putting on the uniform.. if you can understand that..

[Ryoki]

I understand it's to keep a bunch of men who travel to the ends of the earth to inflict death and destruction and do all kinds of incredibly weird shit sort of sane. I also understand it's the perfect recipe for unaccountability when people go over the line (killing civilians at a checkpoint, napalm bombing a peasant villages, torturing prisoners).

Don't soldiers have a duty to disobey orders when they feel they are immoral? The way you are wording things made me think of the favourite excuse the nazi's had at the Neuremberg trails.

[Dek]

I understand it's to keep a bunch of men who travel to the ends of the earth to inflict death and destruction and do all kinds of incredibly weird shit sort of sane. I also understand it's the perfect recipe for unaccountability when people go over the line (killing civilians at a checkpoint, napalm bombing a peasant villages, torturing prisoners).

Don't soldiers have a duty to disobey orders when they feel they are immoral? The way you are wording things made me think of the favourite excuse the nazi's had at the Neuremberg trails.

Oh yes, if someone in your chain of command gives you a command that's immoral or unlawful you can disobey, no problem what so ever. You may get reprimanded on the spot by that person, but you can then take it to the next chain in the command, and so on. If you can't get it straightened out at their level, you take it one steop above, if they can't relieve the situation, you take another step above, etc.. usually this would take care of almost any issue so nobody will get a big head and someone is always responsible, of course shit happens like abu gherib and cancels this whole thing out, since so many didn't care.. but from my experience has never had or taken place around my wife or myself during our time in the military.

[busetibi]

didnt they jail a soldier in Isreal a couple of months ago cause he wouldnt force those settlers out?