- For the past six months, I have been participating in
what I believe to be the great modern lie: Operation Iraqi Freedom.
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- After the horrific events of September 11 2001, and throughout
the battle in Afghanistan, the groundwork was being laid for the invasion
of Iraq. "Shock and awe" were the words used to describe the
display of power that the world was going to view upon the start of Operation
Iraqi Freedom. It was to be an up-close, dramatic display of military strength
and advanced technology from within the arsenals of the American and British
military.
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- But as a soldier preparing to take part in the invasion
of Iraq, the words "shock and awe" rang deep within my psyche.
Even as we prepared to depart, it seemed that these two great superpowers
were about to break the very rules that they demanded others obey. Without
the consent of the United Nations, and ignoring the pleas of their own
citizens, the US and Britain invaded Iraq. "Shock and awe"? Yes,
the words correctly described the emotional impact I felt as we embarked
on an act not of justice, but of hypocrisy.
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- >From the moment the first shot was fired in this
so-called war of liberation and freedom, hypocrisy reigned. After the broadcasting
of recorded images of captured and dead US soldiers on Arab television,
American and British leaders vowed revenge while verbally assaulting the
networks for displaying such vivid images. Yet within hours of the deaths
of Saddam Hussein's sons, the US government released horrific photographs
of the two dead brothers for the entire world to view. Again, a "do
as we say and not as we do" scenario.
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- As soldiers serving in Iraq, we have been told that our
purpose is to help the people of Iraq by providing them with the necessary
assistance militarily, as well as in humanitarian efforts. Then tell me
where the humanity is in the recent account in Stars and Stripes (the newspaper
of the US military) of two young children brought to a US military camp
by their mother in search of medical care.
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- The two children had, unknowingly, been playing with
explosive ordnance they had found, and as a result they were severely burned.
The account tells how, after an hour-long wait, they - two children - were
denied care by two US military doctors. A soldier described the incident
as one of many "atrocities" on the part of the US military he
had witnessed.
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- Thankfully, I have not personally been a witness to atrocities
- unless, of course, you consider, as I do, that this war in Iraq is the
ultimate atrocity.
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- So what is our purpose here? Was this invasion because
of weapons of mass destruction, as we have so often heard? If so, where
are they? Did we invade to dispose of a leader and his regime because they
were closely associated with Osama bin Laden? If so, where is the proof?
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- Or is it that our incursion is about our own economic
advantage? Iraq's oil can be refined at the lowest cost of any in the world.
This looks like a modern-day crusade not to free an oppressed people or
to rid the world of a demonic dictator relentless in his pursuit of conquest
and domination, but a crusade to control another nation's natural resource.
Oil - at least to me - seems to be the reason for our presence.
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- There is only one truth, and it is that Americans are
dying. There are an estimated 10 to 14 attacks every day on our servicemen
and women in Iraq. As the body count continues to grow, it would appear
that there is no immediate end in sight.
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- I once believed that I was serving for a cause - "to
uphold and defend the constitution of the United States". Now I no
longer believe that; I have lost my conviction, as well as my determination.
I can no longer justify my service on the basis of what I believe to be
half-truths and bold lies.
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- With age comes wisdom, and at 36 years old I am no longer
so blindly led as to believe without question. From my arrival last November
at Fort Campbell, in Kentucky, talk of deployment was heard, and as that
talk turned to actual preparation, my heart sank and my doubts grew. My
doubts have never faded; instead, it has been my resolve and my commitment
that have.
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- My time here is almost done, as well as that of many
others with whom I have served. We have all faced death in Iraq without
reason and without justification. How many more must die? How many more
tears must be shed before Americans awake and demand the return of the
men and women whose job it is to protect them, rather than their leader's
interest?
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- - Tim Predmore is a US soldier on active duty with the
101st Airborne Division, based near Mosul in northern Iraq. A version of
this article appeared in the Peoria Journal Star, Illinois
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- © LATWP News Service Guardian Unlimited © Guardian
Newspapers Limited 2003
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- http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1045344,00.html
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