31 Jan. '05: Yesterday we spent the day as the outer cordon for a search in some village near Dogwood. We sat there in the tanks all day while the Estonians, Iraqi Army, and our infantry searched the area.
Of course, we found three more significant weapons caches incl. armor-piercing RPGs & launchers, 155-mm. artillery shells (the weapon of choice for IEDs), hundreds of mortars, rockets and launching tubes.
We detained several people. One tried to run, but the Scouts shot him and ran him down by following his blood trail. All day over the battalion net, we would get updates from our command post about happenings in the country regarding the vote.
In the 91st Engineers (part of our Brigade) sector near Abu Ghraib, there were three suicide bombers who managed to kill only a total of four people. They reported that the Iraqis waiting in line to vote would spit on the bomber's bodies as they walked by.
I heard today that something like 70 percent of registered voters voted. That is awesome. I'm sure the media and the Democrats back there in the States put the worst possible spin on that unprecedented number.
"Well, what about the other 30 percent? Why didn't Bush make sure that they voted? This election is invalid!"
I think the highest turnout for an American election was somewhere around 55 percent of registered voters. And they didn't have to cont/files/storyimages/with suicide bombers.
The Middle East not ready for democracy, you say? $#@%damn cynics; I %$#@ hate them! I really do. Oscar Wilde defined a cynic as "Someone who knows the cost of everything but the value of nothing."
The Iraqi election is a momentous event and accomplishment that we will look back on as a watershed moment in the history of the Middle East, but the naysayers and professional pessimists in the media refuse to admit this.
They know it (they're not stupid); they'll never admit it, though, because that would reflect well on President Bush and validate his worldview, and nullify theirs. They would rather try to make Bush look bad than celebrate the freeing of millions of people from the terrors of life under Hussein.
They would rather see Bush grovel and lament and admit some sort of wrongdoing, and blame him b/c things were tough for a while there than support our country's efforts.
And these are the same people who claim to love the soldiers and support them in all they do. You can't dismiss our entire operation here as a wrongheaded, mistaken pursuit and actively try to undermine public opinion at home, then, in the next breath, say how much you're behind us all. Scumbags! Do they really think we're that dumb?
Bush grasped the big picture from the word "go" and has the leadership ability, political discipline and guts to see things through. History will be kind to him. I saw some of what presidential also-ran John Kerry had to say. What a graceless, condescending piece of #$%@ embarrassment this guy is. I could go on all day about the Democrats and their abysmally out-of-touch, cynical view of the world, but I don't have the time.
I will be leaving for Kuwait in a few days, and not a moment too soon. I, and I think this applies to every one of us in 2/12, am at the limits of my patience. It has been a long, long year. All the stresses and fatigue, the grinding work, and the emotional highs and lows are starting to take their toll.
People are getting frustrated and pissed off at things that normally wouldn't bother them, motivation is starting to flicker and ebb, and we just want to go home.
If we had to stay longer, we would, and we'd do what was asked of us and then some, but if any one of us told you that he wanted to stay longer, he'd be lying. The conditions here at Dogwood are pretty sucky; I only shower every few days b/c the water runs out almost as soon as the trucks deliver it, and when I do its cold and the bathrooms are so dirty you wondered why you bothered showering at all.
We're so sick of the food that we hardly eat anymore. I could probably kill someone for an egg sandwich or some baked ravioli right about now. That being said, it's worth it for what we were able to do while we were here, and soon this will all be over.
Gotta go for now. I'm glad I got the chance to at least write this; communication with those of you back in the real world is very important and heartening to me. Sometimes I feel like I'm on a different planet over here; it's good to know I've got friends back there on Earth. I love you all and think of you always.
Dear all,
I'll be hitting the road for Kuwait in a few hours, and not a moment too soon. We were supposed to leave a couple of days ago, but the HETTs (Heavy Equipment Transport Trucks) were delayed in arriving. They finally showed up this morning; we loaded up the tanks, chained them down, and are ready to go.
Our replacements are here. They are a National Guard Battalion of combat engineers out of Mississippi. For many of them, this is their second tour in Iraq. They were here for six months around the time of the invasion. Yesterday, one of their Humvees was hit by an IED.
They were not very far from Camp Dogwood at all, just a couple of clicks out the gate. (A "click" is a thousand meters). The soldier driving the vehicle was killed, and another soldier, their medic, was seriously injured enough that he had to be taken out on the medevac chopper. All reports are that he will be alright. I don't know much about the man who was killed. He was 37 years old, and he was one of the platoon sergeants.
I was thinking yesterday that he probably hadn't even called home yet to let his family know that he'd arrived safely in Iraq. Now they must deal with the unfathomable grief.
The Mississippi guys seem to be handling it well, they've probably been through it before. They're anxious to get out there and start doing missions. It was quiet and sorrowful when we all got the news, but the mood is colored darkly with anger.
And then the talk of revenge. Nobody acts out, or yells and screams, but a steady stream of soft statements in thick Southern drawl:
"I can't wait to get out there and kill Hadj."
"Those sons of bitches. They don't know what they got coming to 'em."
"Let's go level that #$%@ village."
This is all perfectly human and very understandable. We almost felt like we were letting them down b/c our tanks were sitting idle in the motor pool, loaded with only a handful of ammo for the ride down to Kuwait. We couldn't roll out the gate and do anything about it.
A few of us were seriously contemplating loading up our tanks with main gun rounds, mounting the 50 cal. on top, and raiding the nearby towns, but we knew we couldn't really go and do that. It's not like we were under active attack that needed to be repelled. It's a IED; they blow it up and the triggerman's gone. They'll find him later.
For all the talk of revenge, I don't think any of it will come to pass. The anger will fade and they'll be busy with work, and they'll conduct themselves professionally when dealing with the locals. I can't promise that nothing will happen to that triggerman if they ever do get their hands on him, in fact, I can almost guarantee that something will.
I remember, after one of our raids back in Abu Ghraib, we caught and detained several bad guys and they all sang like canaries once the interpreters got in there and the interrogation started. It came out that one of these guys was the triggerman on the IED that killed Shondee and Onwordi. Well, 2nd Platoon (their platoon) got wind of this and made their way into the room where he was being held. I don't know exactly what happened, I wasn't there, but I think its safe to say that there were gross and numerous violations of the Geneva Convention.
I'm not condoning this. It's just the way it is. All things considered, they didn't hurt him too badly, and I have a hard time feeling bad for the guy, anyway. I often think about what I would like to do to some of these guys if I got my hands on them, and what I actually would do.
I don't think I have it in me to beat on a defenseless person for the sheer punishment of it, no matter how despicable they are and how much they deserve it. Now, going through our legal system and ultimately deciding to kill them is another thing entirely; it's a just punishment for a crime, as opposed to a sadistic endeavor. I know the interpreters would kill these guys in a second, they've told me as much. More on this another time. I gotta run.
Love you all, I'll call when I get to Kuwait. Peace.
MDM
See you soon! (Start stocking up on the Guinness!)
Note: Spc. Mark Meaney, a Long Island, N.Y. native, joined the Army in October 2002, his reaction to the horrors of 9/11.
Meaney, based in Fort Hood, Texas, corresponded regularly through e-mail with his large family, which includes a brother Matt, who works at Aegon Institutional Markets in Louisville.
His e-mails gained a large circulation as people enjoyed his clear and conversational writing style as well as his firsthand accounts of the front-line action in Iraq.
He expressed his displeasure with the American media often - as many enlisted men and women have - and offered a welcome glimpse at the positive effects of American involvement in Iraq and other Middle Eastern countries.
