Jump to content

Winning Hearts & Minds Pt.371


MrDoolittle

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 131
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Just on the off chance that anyone who reads this actually wants to do something constructive - there are several organizations orchestrating efforts to improve the Iraqi people's well-being, especially the children's. Light a candle or curse the darkness. Your choice.

 

www.iraqischools.com

" HELLO All,

 

I have never been a fan of mass emails, but under the circumstances I am willing give it a try to ask for help.

 

The Bottom Line Up Front (BLUF): I am asking for your help in bringing desperately needed school supplies to the children of our zones here in Baghdad. Over the past few weeks, we have been faced with the mission to secure, clean up and win the peace in several large zones in the heart of Baghdad. Among the many tasks associated with this mission is interaction with the local schools (grades K - 8 equivalent). Simply put, the conditions are deplorable. The conditions include raw sewage on the ground and in the classrooms, no electricity or water, bullet holes in the walls and on the roofs, broken windows and doors, no desks or chalkboards, and obviuosly little or no supplies with which to hold classes.

 

Despite the conditions, they will continue to hold classes. In many respects, the Iraqis put a greater premium and priority on education than we do in the US. The problem lies in the lack of resources and infastructure. Under Sadam's regime, resources were used as a weapon to influence and control the people. Even water and electricity were engineered such that he could turn it on and off as a way of rewarding those who supported him, while punishing those he did not trust.

 

Our soldiers have had to endure a full spectrum of emotions and feelings, not to mention hazards while confronting the task of improving the schools. We do what we can with what we have, but it is difficult at best given our situation. Perhaps the most difficult part for many of our soldiers is balancing the desire to truly help the Iraqi people, and even more so the children with the hopeless frustration of acquiring the resources to do the job. To many of us, there is an endless list of those who would advertise to help, but in the end these bureaucrats are seemingly more interested in getting their name in the press than they are getting the job done.

 

This is where my request comes in. After seeing first-hand the conditions of these schools and the reactions of the children we help, it dawned on me how fortunate we all are and how much we sometimes take for granted what we have. For what I provide my two boys in one year for school, I could outfit an entire classroom of Iraqi children for the year. My soldiers and I quickly realized the need to reach out directly to you all for help. We knew that by asking for help through emails and phone calls, we could circumvent the log jam of inaction and produce some positive results.

 

I took a look at the group of you who I am able to maintain email contact with, and realized how fortunate many of us are in life, and realized the power and potential of such a group. For those of you who have seen the movie "Pay It Forward", we are attempting to start a grass roots movement to provide school supplies directly from the States to the children and schools here in Baghdad. In doing so, I am asking from each of you a few moments of your time and few simple tasks. My soldiers and I will see to the rest. "

 

www.spiritofamerica.net

"The Marines that liberated Baghdad last spring are back in Iraq and they need our help. Commanding General Jim Mattis says, "Your gifts will reduce adversarial relationships and bridge cultural gaps. You have significantly impacted our ability to do good and, I fervently hope reduce the potential for combat." Help the Marines be the best ambassadors possible. Your donation will have a real impact."

 

www.operationgive.org

"out at the front gate I noticed a young girl crying behind the barbed wire that separates us from the throngs of people waiting for their chance to speak with someone. Her mother, only having one leg, had hobbled in on her crutches a few moments earlier. The young girl, separated from the only person she was familiar with, began crying, now hiding behind the rest of the crowd. I searched through the mass to see where the crying noise was coming from.

 

She was obviously very poor, in her tattered old dress, totally worn out plastic flip-flops, her hair matted against her head indicating she hadn't had a bath in a long time and her skin blistered from the dirt and weather.

 

Once I saw her I quickly told the MP's to move the barbed wire back to let her in to join her mother. Her crying stopped as she darted in to grab a hold of her mother's long black dishdasha, torn and frayed from years of use. As she stood by her mother's side, grasping her dress, I moved over slowly to brush her stringy hair away from her eyes and to pat her gently on the head, as I told the guard to make sure they don't leave before I could return.

 

I quickly loaded up the sources in my car and returned them to my office in the palace. I told them to wait for a moment, while I rummaged through my FedEx box full of toys sent my by my teammates back home. I grabbed a comb, a brush, a pair of new flip-flops, a whistle, a stuffed monkey whose arms hang around your neck, and a new toothbrush and tooth paste and dashed out the door, telling my interpreter to come along.

 

As I made my way back over to the front gate, I saw the little girl and her mother waiting patiently anticipating my return, not knowing why I had asked them to wait. Bending down I handed her the items one by one, as I explained what each item was, to insure she knew what I was giving her, especially as I gave her the toothbrush, asking her to be sure to brush everyday.

 

Her eyes lit up with such joy as I put the monkey arms over her head. She was so excited to receive everything, being somewhat shy though, not having dealt with an American before. She was so precious as her big brown eyes looked up at me, causing me to almost breakdown into tears as I walked away quickly so as to not bring too much attention to the little girl from the on looking crowd.

 

What a moment! In my own little way, I am influencing and affecting the attitudes of Iraqis one person at a time, taking baby steps, one experience at a time. My sphere of influence is small in comparison to the task at hand, but who knows what the ripple affect will be of my small effort to calm the tears of one sweet little girl. Thanks to my team mates back home who made this moment possible by sending me the toys to hand out to Iraqi children. I have only one request of them and others: please send me more toys!"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Build a fence around it, remove its occupants one by one until it is completely empty. Question them and determine who the insurgents are. Then remove every weapon and bomb material from every square inch. Imprison the troublemakers and let the innocent return to their homes.

 

I think Isreal tried that already... rolleyes.gif

Link to comment
Share on other sites

At this point, I have no idea who is trolling and who is serious. You guys are confusing.

 

I say we pull out of Iraq, Quwait, Saudi Arabia, everywhere... then let them do what they want. After a few invasions/holocausts, whatever Arab nation is left standing will Jihad on Israel... that will be the end of the Middle East for about 30000 years.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I would like to help more of them make it to Allah. Oh well, 2 more weeks and I'll be back in that shithole and you'll all be arguing about it and enjoying skiing and climbing while I suck fumes from the Dhura oil refinery and get my brain cooked by 120+ temps.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Man, I saw those videos on CNN, fucking nasty. They burn the people's car then stone em then hang em from bridges and cheer - and its little kids doing it too. Those people are less than human. Their views on the world, religion, and it seems like pretty much everything are fucked up. Disgusting. Too bad the army wasn't there (though the media managed to make it) to shoot the shit outa them.

Edited by Jake
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Veteran Middle East correspondent Robert Fisk reports live from Baghdad. Fisk describes the "grotesque, gruesome, terrible" attacks in Fallujah, the contracted mercenaries that have infiltrated Iraq: "They swagger in and out with heavy weapons, with automatic weapons and pistols as if they're cowboys" and the deteriorating situation throughout the country: "The violence and the insecurity, the sense of anarchy is greater."

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/03/31/1616230

Link to comment
Share on other sites

j_b, that's a pretty interesting interview, well worth reading the whole thing. Fisk seems fairly even handed, acknowledging some of the infrastructure improvements in Iraq, and stating that some of the private security folks are on the up and up, some very secretive and sketchy, and that the large number of South Africans seem too young to be from the old apartheid regime (which contradicts the rumors).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Don't forget that the exact same things were happening in Europe a few hundred years ago....

 

Yeah sure, heinous stuff like this has happened forever. Its just really disapointing that people do it. How do you turn into something like what these people are? Its not like the people in that car were personally responisble for something personal - like killing their child or something. They were just driving down the street trying to stay out of trouble. Can't watch the TV of it - and not just cause its Americans - that kinda stuff happening to anybody is messed up. Makes me wanna smash my tv with a stick or something.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Build a fence around it, remove its occupants one by one until it is completely empty. Question them and determine who the insurgents are. Then remove every weapon and bomb material from every square inch. Imprison the troublemakers and let the innocent return to their homes.

 

I am at the point of turning that fenced in area to glass, then we do the same to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.




×
×
  • Create New...