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This message is about US soldiers in Iraq being used as human
bait.
I have a brother who was deployed to Iraqi city of Ramadi. Since he is a
true soldier, he takes order even if it is apparent he might die. He
told us that he has been getting orders to aimlessly march into the
middle of city, where many Islamic insurgents are hiding, with no reason
given. All US soldiers know that these are suicide missions, because
snipers are hiding everywhere. US soldiers do not know when and where
they will be shot. There are hundreds of windows everywhere in the city.
Those snipers can fire a single bullet to a US soldier's head, then
immediately hide. I started wondering why they were getting such
pointless orders. He did not know either.
He told us that situation has been getting worse and worse day-by-day.
There have been so many incidents happening, so he has been sent out
back to back without enough sleep to the point he started falling asleep
in the middle of battlefield. Since that can lead to his death, he has
been trying to stay awake as humanly possible. Later on, he told us he
started having dreams with his eyes open because of severe lack of
sleep, due to too frequent deployments to battlefield.
Even with all these, he was taking it without much visible anger. He is
taking it as "I am a soldier and therefore I have to go through this"
kind of mindset. However, he was extremely upset at one thing. Islamic
insurgents are dressed up as civilians. Moreover, when they attack, they
frequently attack as sniper. Therefore, when attacked, US soldiers are
forced to start shooting at civilians. This undoubtedly results in death
of innocent Iraqi civilians, but US soldiers do not have choice. They
have to shoot at civilians. After all, Islamic insurgents are dressed up
as civilian, and US soldiers are sleep-deprived so they cannot think
clearly. He was very upset about this. I mean really really upset.
Worse, angry relatives of civilians are joining insurgents, and the
resistances of insurgents have been increasing. I saw news reports from
various news media that before the war started, US Army warned US
government that all these were going to happen, but was ignored.
Since my brother was deployed to Ramadi, I have been religiously
watching/reading news everyday. They have been reporting many incidents
and many casualties from Baghdad, Falluhja, and so on, but not Ramadi.
So I have been getting impression from news media that Ramadi was
relatively quite, even though messages from my brother was contrary.
I really regret the fact that I have not recorded the TV broadcast nor
noted when this was aired (it was around October 13 or 14, I think), but
one day I saw "NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw", which reported this:
They said, ever since the war against Saddam Hussein started, the war in
Ramadi never stopped. To this date, US still has not found out where the
enemies are in Ramadi. Therefore, due to the political pressure to make
progress and in order to find the enemies, someone at the top of the
hierarchy decided to use US soldiers as human bait. They started sending
soldiers aimlessly into the city. When snipers start firing, then US
Army says, "There they are!" and gives out order to fight them. When I
saw that news, my heart sank. I was devastated. My brother is being used
as human bait.
Ever since he was deployed to Iraq, he used to call us or email us at
least once every one or two weeks. Recently, he stopped contacting us
for weeks. We have been extremely worried, asking each other "Have you
heard from him?", "Have you received any e-mail from him?", "Isn't there
any message?", and so on, back and forth between our family members.
Meanwhile, news media such as CNN has been reporting casualties from
cities in Iraq, but not much at all from Ramadi. So I was assuming US
soldiers were not being killed in Ramadi even though I know situation
over there is dire.
This morning, after weeks of silence, I finally heard from him to my
delight. He told me the reason he has not been contacting us is because
the army cuts off phone lines and Internet access for two days whenever
a soldier is killed. Since soldiers have been getting killed almost
every day, phone lines and Internet access have been cut off for weeks
continuously, and therefore he could never contact anyone outside. WHAT?
I have been watching/reading news religiously, but there has not been
many news of casualties from Ramadi! Certainly not casualties almost
every day! This has prompted me to write this message, a cry for help:
(1) US soldiers are being used as human bait. This has to stop.
(2) Somehow we are not getting news of casualties from Ramadi.
Certainly, the government is trying to block the news to public. They
are cutting off phone lines and Internet access. This has to stop.
(3) Innocent Iraqi civilians are getting killed. I know we cannot blame
US soldiers for this. I do not know how, but this has to stop. It is the
military or government leaders' duty to find out how.
I am powerless, and I don't know how to tell US government to stop using
US soldiers as human bait. That is why I am asking you all to spread
this message and somehow influence US government to stop this practice.
Please send this message to 10 people you know, or as many as you can.
My brother and his fellow soldiers are blindly marching into mine fields
every time they get orders, completely disregarding their own desire to
survive. If you care, please help. US soldiers need all the help they
can get, not abuse.
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