Sunday, April 16, 2006

Follow up



I should explain what I was trying to say in the last posting better, that was sloppy and unorganized, but it just came out in one big burst basically, I have to chose between taking the time to write well, or prepare for my final exams, I am choosing the latter. I think that I still have a lot to say about what happened to us in Iraq, but now is not the time.

I want to thank those of you who give service man support. Thank you, this means a lot, I don't write these post to get sympathy, or to make this war popular, I do it because taking my feeling and putting them into words helps me understand myself better.

I have spent a lot of time trying to decide whether I should be proud of myself for being there. I can't say that we were not trying to do the right thing, that we were bad people with bad intentions. We made a lot of effort to rebuild Iraq. But when you spend more time trying not to die on a patrol you stop focusing on doing good things like protecting the citizens of that country and rebuiliding the infrastructure that disapeared when Saddam's goverment was taken out.

Now that I have been back I am trying to decide what would have been the best thing to do, and for the life of me I don't know. I don't hate Iraq, I don't have anything against those folks.

One thing I learned from traveling is that ignorance and intolerance are the worst things in the world, Americans are guilty of it, As well as Europeans and Muslims, a little bit of education and understanding goes a long way, but sadly we are beyond a plain old "Can't we all just get along?" I am not that naive, but still, damn, so many ignorant people who can't tell the difference between a Sunny and Shiite, an Arab and a Persian, a Pakistani and an Indian, or who can't understand that just because one is an American that we must be some sort of Rich Right Wing religious nut, those ignorant perspectives are what's wrong with the world, when you use religion as an excuse to hate, you are wrong. When you use rhetoric as an excuse to go to war, you are wrong. When religion is used to kill innocent people, you are wrong, I believe that both sides are guilty. I better go, I have other business to take care of.

Be good to each other people.

Love

J.V.

7 comments:

Ms. E said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Ms. E said...

Let's try this again. I was watching the news, and it reported 40,000 suicide pilots from Iraq are trained and ready to attack the US and Britian. When you hear that kind of stuff, what is your first reaction? In your experience and probably more informed opinion, do you think that this is a bunch of lies, exaggerations, or reality?

Jose said...

I don't know, my first thought is that it's an exaggeration, I don't think there are 40,000 pilots in Iraq period. The literacy rate of that country is 58%
I doubt there are that many pilots there to beguin with, where did you read that?

But I was looking at recent pictures from Iraq, and a lot of building that were intact when I was there are destroyed as a result of the war, a beatiful mosque that was in the middle of the city is now gone.
That probably did not make us any more popular there.

Froyd said...

no, it's not 40,000 suicide bombers from Iraq. It's 40,000 supposed fighters that a jihadist sect claims are ready to attack british and american interests worldwide...in case we take military action against Iran.

not iraq, iran. i ran so far away.

Loralee Choate said...

I have gone back and forth with this war and how I feel about it. Truthfuly, having loved ones deployed affects how you look at things. I know it shouldn't, but it does. I have the same conclustion...I am not sure. I see good and bad. I have not freaking idea half the time, and I'm just on the sidelines. I don't know what I would think in your position or having your experiences.

Loralee Choate said...

P.S. wow, my spelling sucks. I'm tired.

Michael said...

I had gotton the general idea of your last post and understand. Its one of those situations where you can't say how you would react unless you (realistically) put yourself in another persons shoes.

As a reader of my blog, you know my feelings on the war. I hope you are aware, of how thankful I am of our troops. The men and women of our military do things I know myself am incapable of doing.

I wish peace, love, and understanding were capable of fixing this mess of a world we live in. Sometimes, war is inevitable. In the case of Iraq though, from my view, it wasn't. I just hope that things are set right for the people in Iraq, and the rest of the middle east.