[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 98 (Tuesday, July 19, 2005)]
[House]
[Pages H6080-H6081]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
A VIEW OF IRAQ FROM A SOLDIER
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the
gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur) is recognized for 5 minutes.
Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, this evening I wish to enter into the Record
the compelling story of one of our soldiers from Iraq.
This is a soldier who voluntarily joined our Army in February 2002;
trained as an infantryman at Fort Benning, Georgia; sent to Fort Riley;
participated in the opening stages of the war, fighting all the way to
Baghdad where he would remain for the next year and was promoted to the
rank of sergeant during his service to the United States and was
honorably discharged. He is 27 years old.
His writings include this: A view of Iraq from a soldier dated this
July 2005. He says, ``I am a concerned veteran of the Iraq War. I can
offer some firsthand experience of the war on Iraq through the eyes of
a soldier.
``My view of the situation in Iraq will differ from what the American
people are being told by the Bush administration. My opinion on this
matter comes from what I witnessed in Iraq personally.''
He talks about members of the Bush administration creating an image
of wine and roses in terms of the aftermath of the war. And Vice
President Dick Cheney said American troops would be greeted as
liberators. But he goes on to say, ``I participated in the invasion,
stayed in Iraq for a year afterward. What I witnessed was the total
opposite of what President Bush and his administration stated to the
American people. The invasion was very confusing,'' this soldier says,
``and so was the period of time I spent in Iraq afterwards. At first it
did seem that all the people of Iraq were happy to be rid of Saddam
Hussein, but that was only for a short period of time.
``Shortly after Saddam's regime fell, the Shiite Muslims in Iraq
conducted a pilgrimage to Karbala, a pilgrimage prohibited by Saddam
while he was in power. As I witnessed the Shiite pilgrimage, which was
a new freedom that we provided to them, they used the pilgrimage to
protest our presence in the country. I watched as they beat themselves
over the head with sticks until they bled and screamed at us in anger
to leave their country. Some even carried signs that read, `No Saddam,
No America.'' '
``These were people that Saddam oppressed. They were his enemies. To
me it seemed they hated us more than him. At that moment I knew it was
going to be a long deployment. I realized that I was not being greeted
as a liberator. I became overwhelmed with fear because I felt I would
never be viewed that way by the Iraqi people.
``As a soldier this concerned me because if they did not view me as a
liberator, then what did they view me as? I felt they viewed me as a
foreign occupier of their land. That lead me to believe very early on
that I was going to have a fight on my hands.
``During my year in Iraq I had many altercations with the so-called
insurgency. I found the insurgency I saw to be quite different from the
insurgency described to the American people by the Bush administration,
the media, and the supporters of the war. There is no doubt in my mind
there are foreigners from other surrounding countries in Iraq. Anyone
in the Middle East who hates America now has the opportunity to kill
Americans because there are roughly 140,000 U.S. troops in Iraq.
``But the bulk of the insurgency I faced was primarily the people of
Iraq who were attacking us as a reaction to what they felt was an
occupation of their country. I was engaged actively in urban combat in
the Abu Ghraib area west of Baghdad. Many of the people who were
attacking me were the poor people of Iraq. They were definitely not
members of al Qaeda, leftover Baath party members, and they were not
former members of Saddam's regime. They were just your average Iraqi
civilian who wanted us out of their country.
``On October 31, 2003, the people of Abu Ghraib organized a large
uprising against us. They launched a massive assault on our compound in
the area. We were attacked with AK-47 machine guns, RPGs and mortars.
Thousands of people took to the streets to attack us. As the riot
unfolded before my eyes, I realized these were just the people who
lived there. There were men, women and children participating. Some of
the Iraqi protestors were even carrying pictures of Saddam Hussein.
``My battalion fought back with everything we had and eventually shut
down the uprising. So while President Bush speaks of freedom and
liberation of the Iraqi people, I find his statements are not credible
after witnessing events such as these.
``During the violence that day, I felt so much fear throughout my
entire body. I remember going home that night and praying to God,
thanking him I was still alive.
``A few months earlier President Bush made the statement `Bring it
on' when referring to the attacks on Americans by the insurgency. To me
that felt like a personal invitation to the insurgents to attack me and
my friends who desperately wanted to make it home alive.
``I did my job well in Iraq. My superiors promoted me to the rank of
sergeant. I was made a rifle team leader and was put in charge of other
soldiers when we carried out our missions. My time as a team leader in
Iraq was temporarily interrupted when I was sent to the Green Zone in
Baghdad to train the Iraqi Army. And I was more than happy to do it
because we were being told in order for us to get out of Iraq
completely, the Iraqi military would have to be able to take over all
security operations.
``The training of the Iraqi Army became a huge concern of mine.
During the time I trained them, their basic training was only one week
long. We showed them some basic drill and ceremonies such as marching
and saluting.''
[[Page H6081]]
Mr. Speaker, I will continue this Special Order later this week, and
I thank this soldier so much for his courage to tell what he personally
lived in Iraq.
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