Tuesday, August 31, 2010

The Pullout Method

Dear soul, you were sacrificed… for what? And same for the natural sense of security and of purity, this all happened and it was not a dream, and in the end it meant nothing. A government dismantled and reconstructed far too incomplete and we leave a people to find their own way, no weapons of mass destruction anywhere, wasted days and wasted day. We sat on a hill concealed in tall grass, playing war games in Hawaii, months before we had any clue we were going to Iraq. The platoon commander, a twenty seven year old Staff Sergeant looked at me, face covered in green and black, “Do you think we are going Anderson?” He asked, he knew I was a news junkie. “Yes Staff Sergeant.” I answered. “I think so too.” We sat in the tall grass and waited for a storm gathering not so far off of the island. The rain would come and turn the red clay to mud and we would be born amphibious again.
The body armor is very good now; we can take refuge in this technological advance. We can surely construct better bases faster, equipped with fast food favorites in days now and not months. Johnny got gun will not go longer suffer the losses of thousands on a beachhead because war has become friendlier and much less conventional. From now on the third world can clearly understand that opposition to U.S. policy or control over natural resource may subject you to a regime change similar to Iraq, when we are done with you the government will begin again at less than zero. We will be sure to fly no mission accomplished signs because there never was a mission. When I was nineteen, near the end of the battle of Fallujah, I shared a cigarette with an Iraqi National Guard Soldier who spoke descent English. I asked him if he was happy about the U.S. occupation of Iraq and he explained that he was, because the country was going to have a chance after Saddam. I asked him what would happen if we pulled out and left? The soldier smiled at me as if I was foolish and he said, America would not do that. I didn’t reply, amazed at the optimistic outlook of the Iraqi Soldier. Now we will leave and never before, this is what we tell the parents of war. I say good luck to Iraqi’s, I wish the people of Iraq much love, and luck…on repeat until I am ashamed again.

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