A.Muqeet khan
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With the anniversary of September 11 a little less than two weeks away, I have been thinking back on this war that was brought to our doorsteps that early September morning. I remember the anger I felt, watching the suffering and hoplessness of the many victims that day. I wanted revenge and at that time, my anger made me support anything the Bush administration wanted to do to protect the homeland.
What I saw as good decision making and courage from the Bush administration reassured me on where this country was headed. I supported the Patriot Act, even though when the government starts messing around in people's civil liberties it always makes me worry. Of course I would support it, I wasn't making any calls to terrorists, I had nothing to hide so how would it ever effect me? Anything to protect America was ok with me.
I fully supported the start of military action in Afghanistan. Justice was to be done to the cowards that attacked us on 9/11. I felt the plan of using Special Forces and the Northern Alliance was a sound plan against a new kind of enemy. After the Taliban was routed, I believed America had it right, but then we took our eye off the ball when we turned towards Iraq. I felt when you have an enemy on the mat, you must finish them.
Over the years since the start of the Afghan and Iraqi operations, I have watched as our soldiers tried to nation build and fight a war at the same time which is a recipe for disaster. I felt an obligation as an American to join this war even though I did not agree with the motives behind the conflict in Iraq. I went into the Army and my eyes really opened.
I deployed to Iraq in 2008 as a Combat Infantryman. I saw how little regard some of my comrades had for the Iraqi people. I understand how some people feel that if your Muslim, that you are against us, which could not be further from the truth. We would patrol and we showed little regard for Iraqi's and their possessions. I saw many soldiers who were just looking for a fight and didn't care about the ramifications of their actions. I came away from missions where I would have to give sworn statements about the actions that had just taken place. My command would have us all in the CP or Command Post where we would all go over what we were going to write so we would all be on the same page. I felt that this was illegal because a sworn statement is an oath of truth and alot of times we would bend the truth. I came home from that deployment a much more educated man. I no longer thought that war was a John Wayne movie, but an ugly, brutal and cruel endeavor.
In 2010, I deployed to Afghanistan. I was eager about this deployment because we were going to the country where all this started. I felt this was the enemy that attacked us on 9/11 and I was anxious to get in on the fight. I soon found after getting there, that it was the same old song and dance as Iraq was. We had no clear missions and the cruel behavior continued. One example of this is we had to drive to a checkpoint that had taken fire from the Taliban. The checkpoint was occupied by Afghan forces. My TC or Truck Commander thought it would be funny to urinate in a water bottle, which was common practice and place it out in front of our truck so that a thirst Afghan kid would come and take a drink. He did and an Afghan kid took a drink and then looked as if he were going to vomit. I felt disgusted as a soldier and as a human being. I felt as sick as that Afghan child did. I felt ashamed. Door checking of people's animals, that is where you open a door while driving and slam it into an animal was also common practice. I enlisted because I wanted to make a difference but I realized that I wasn't making a difference. I realized that I was part of a crowd who didn't really care about people who we were supposed to be protecting.
I am not saying 100% of the military acts like this. I have served with some very admirable people. I know there are soldiers who care about their mission and their responsibilities as representatives of the United States. As I reflect about my experiences and all that has transpired over the last ten years, I just wonder if my small experience is a much wider problem that contributes to a much longer war. Terrorists and radicals are always going to have disdain for this country because of what we stand for. We should never try to stoop to their level and talk it out. There is only one way to deal with that and that is force. We should try to win the moderates and the Muslim community who wants to give Democracy a chance. I am afraid that the behavior of some will ruin what so many have sacrificied their lives for. Our reputation as the country that stands up for rights and freedom will be diminished when people who think we are there to protect them, feel that we are not better than people who we are protecting them from. I hope and pray that Iraq flourishes as a new democracy and that Afghanistan can turn it around. I just hope that ten years from now, we are out of these wars and concentrating more on putting Americans back to work and rebuilding our own country.
Some of the reasons we are not winning hearts and minds
What I saw as good decision making and courage from the Bush administration reassured me on where this country was headed. I supported the Patriot Act, even though when the government starts messing around in people's civil liberties it always makes me worry. Of course I would support it, I wasn't making any calls to terrorists, I had nothing to hide so how would it ever effect me? Anything to protect America was ok with me.
I fully supported the start of military action in Afghanistan. Justice was to be done to the cowards that attacked us on 9/11. I felt the plan of using Special Forces and the Northern Alliance was a sound plan against a new kind of enemy. After the Taliban was routed, I believed America had it right, but then we took our eye off the ball when we turned towards Iraq. I felt when you have an enemy on the mat, you must finish them.
Over the years since the start of the Afghan and Iraqi operations, I have watched as our soldiers tried to nation build and fight a war at the same time which is a recipe for disaster. I felt an obligation as an American to join this war even though I did not agree with the motives behind the conflict in Iraq. I went into the Army and my eyes really opened.
I deployed to Iraq in 2008 as a Combat Infantryman. I saw how little regard some of my comrades had for the Iraqi people. I understand how some people feel that if your Muslim, that you are against us, which could not be further from the truth. We would patrol and we showed little regard for Iraqi's and their possessions. I saw many soldiers who were just looking for a fight and didn't care about the ramifications of their actions. I came away from missions where I would have to give sworn statements about the actions that had just taken place. My command would have us all in the CP or Command Post where we would all go over what we were going to write so we would all be on the same page. I felt that this was illegal because a sworn statement is an oath of truth and alot of times we would bend the truth. I came home from that deployment a much more educated man. I no longer thought that war was a John Wayne movie, but an ugly, brutal and cruel endeavor.
In 2010, I deployed to Afghanistan. I was eager about this deployment because we were going to the country where all this started. I felt this was the enemy that attacked us on 9/11 and I was anxious to get in on the fight. I soon found after getting there, that it was the same old song and dance as Iraq was. We had no clear missions and the cruel behavior continued. One example of this is we had to drive to a checkpoint that had taken fire from the Taliban. The checkpoint was occupied by Afghan forces. My TC or Truck Commander thought it would be funny to urinate in a water bottle, which was common practice and place it out in front of our truck so that a thirst Afghan kid would come and take a drink. He did and an Afghan kid took a drink and then looked as if he were going to vomit. I felt disgusted as a soldier and as a human being. I felt as sick as that Afghan child did. I felt ashamed. Door checking of people's animals, that is where you open a door while driving and slam it into an animal was also common practice. I enlisted because I wanted to make a difference but I realized that I wasn't making a difference. I realized that I was part of a crowd who didn't really care about people who we were supposed to be protecting.
I am not saying 100% of the military acts like this. I have served with some very admirable people. I know there are soldiers who care about their mission and their responsibilities as representatives of the United States. As I reflect about my experiences and all that has transpired over the last ten years, I just wonder if my small experience is a much wider problem that contributes to a much longer war. Terrorists and radicals are always going to have disdain for this country because of what we stand for. We should never try to stoop to their level and talk it out. There is only one way to deal with that and that is force. We should try to win the moderates and the Muslim community who wants to give Democracy a chance. I am afraid that the behavior of some will ruin what so many have sacrificied their lives for. Our reputation as the country that stands up for rights and freedom will be diminished when people who think we are there to protect them, feel that we are not better than people who we are protecting them from. I hope and pray that Iraq flourishes as a new democracy and that Afghanistan can turn it around. I just hope that ten years from now, we are out of these wars and concentrating more on putting Americans back to work and rebuilding our own country.
Some of the reasons we are not winning hearts and minds
