From the Peanut Gallery - 08/25/2005

Yes I'm back with a new edition of from the Peanut Gallery. It's been a while so let's start with the most obvious question.


Q:

Why no post lately, it is the only way of know what you are doing and if you are ok.

A:

Well this is an answer that has three parts

1. The purpose of my blog was never to be a place for self-introspection or blithe narcissism. The purpose of my blog has always been to have a place for my friends and family to keep up with me while I was in Iraq. When I left for here I didn’t know what kind of access I would have to communication so I figured it would be better for me to give little update that all the people I know could get to instead of answering the same question 55 times. Since I’ve been out here I’ve acquired Webcams, VOIP, VOIP chat and all other sorts of nifty communication devices. So I’m able to reach my family as often as I feel. There isn’t as much need to update my blog as it was for my original intent.

2. I never talk about my company or sensitive information on my blog. It’s one of those subtle things that if you have been paying attention you would notice. On the flip side everything that has really been going on with me that would be of interest has been things with the company and classified information. As a result while there have been plenty of interesting stories to tell none of them would make it on the blog anyways.

3. There really hasn’t been much going on. Iraq isn’t as mysterious to me as it was in my first six months. It is industry now, being in Iraq is my life it is normal to me now not abnormal so things you all would consider noteworthy are no longer noteworthy to me anymore. I’m institutionalized now.

Q:

How hot is it there?

A:

When I got this email it was much hotter I would say we were hitting about 125° F /52° C with lows in the low 100s/35-ish or upper 90s/36-ish. With it hitting the end of August it has cooled down to so the highs are about 116°/47° And the lows are coming in at about low 90s/33-ish in the early morning can be quite chilly.

Q:

What do the troops think of Cindy Sheehan and do you think the President should meet with her?

A:

With most things domestic the troops I know don’t care one way or the other. Her plight isn’t relevant to them. The fact of the matter is that bottom line her son and every other solider in the military today joined of their own free will. The military is ALL VOLUENTEER and it won’t change. Everyone I talk to is pretty much saying sure it's sad that her son died but, when we sign up we know the risks of this job. It’s the risk that each and every military personnel take as well as the civilian contractors.

Yes, Mom I’ll always be your baby boy but in reality these are men and women here not children. They all decided on their own to join the military. So when I die or someone else’s adult offspring die don’t go clamoring to the high heavens talking about Bush killed my son. No, he didn’t, your son or daughter choose to accept those risks. Your son or daughter may not like them but that’s how it goes. By failing to remove the President from office you accepted the policy. The president was re-elected on the promise that he would continue the polices of the last 4 years.

If you didn’t like the fact that people are here in Iraq then you should have voted for the other guy. You did? Well did you tell your friends and family to do the same? Did you convince them that the other choice was a better option; did you do the same for your state Senators and Representatives that agreed with this policy? Instead of looking at the President and blaming him look at yourself. Your failure to convince enough people to vote against him is the problem not him.
[/rant]

On top of that the political statement she was initially making has become muddied with every left wing nut that has a bone to pick with the President. I think her statement and the anti-war statement would have been more effective if she stood out there alone for those five weeks. She should have made one statement "I have nothing to say until I speak with the President." and from there she shouldn’t have said another word to the media or anyone else until the President spoke with her or he left without speaking to her.

I used to think before I got here that the Administration would have to start up a draft to meet the needs of the military. But, unless we start getting invaded there will never be another draft. There is no need to have one. Who needs the negative publicity for their party or the social upheaval that a draft would cause? On top of that the military personnel don’t want draftees they would much rather have an individual who was willing to sign up over one who wasn’t.

Now then should the President meet with her? 100% absolutely not, for what? The king doesn’t sully his hands with peasants and at the end of the day that’s what you are looking at a king and a peasant.


Q.

Are we winning the war?

A:

It all depends on how you define winning. What is winning? What were/are the objectives of the US military? By my account the goal of the US military was to topple the Baathist regime that was in power in Iraq due to the fact that the regime was *cough* harboring WMD. It’s not the military’s place to question the judgment of the President it is their place to execute the President’s plan. So if you use that definition then we are winning and we won a long time ago.

Is a condition of winning the war to maintain order in Iraq (i.e. act as law enforcement) then they are starting to win that war. At the same time it was a failure of political leadership that caused the breakdown in maintaining order not a problem with the US military not being able or willing. Because the political leadership reacted slowly then military did as well, the military is only as effective as those that lead them. In that I would call it a quagmire or a stalemate. Today the military controls 99% of the area that it occupies with an iron fist. It is the areas outside of the military’s control that currently has problems but, the military’s job is to win wars not, maintain order and issue parking tickets (how many howitzers does your police department have).

Is a condition of winning the war to stop the insurgents from killing Iraqis? Well if that is the case then we are losing, right now the only thing that is going on here is that Iraqis and foreign insurgents are killing Iraqis.

You can find victory or defeat in any action in this war. I would define it as a quagmire with several issues, all political that need to be resolved before VICTORY can be declared.