Get Us Out Of Here
Compiled By Imad Khadduri
Occupation Watch Center
17 July, 2003
"Most soldiers would empty their bank accounts just for a plane ticket home."
-Anonymous Army soldier in a letter to Congress, Christian Science Monitor, July 7, 2003"Make no mistake, the level of morale for most soldiers that I've seen has hit rock bottom."
-Unidentified officer from the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division in Iraq, Christian Science Monitor, July 7, 2003"The way we have been treated and the continuous lies told to our families back home has devastated us all."
-Unidentified soldier in a letter to Congress, Christian Science Monitor, July 7, 2003"U.S. officials need to get our [expletive] out of here…I say that seriously. We have no business being here. We will not change the culture they have in Iraq, in Baghdad. Baghdad is so corrupted. All we are here is potential people to be killed and sitting ducks."
-43-year-old reservist from Pittsburgh, who arrived in Iraq with the 307th Military Police Company on May 24, Washington Post, July 1, 2003"What are we getting into here? The war is supposed to be over, but every day we hear of another soldier getting killed. Is it worth it? Saddam isn't in power anymore. The locals want us to leave. Why are we still here?"
-Sergeant from the U.S. Army's 4th Infantry Division, The American Cause (founded by Patrick Buchanan), June 30, 2003"This duty is absolutely ridiculous… We are combat troops. We are trained in combat. We are not trained in peacekeeping. We should all be home by now. It's like we won the Super Bowl, but we have to keep on playing."
-Sgt. 1st Class Richard Edwards, Los Angeles Times, June 29, 2003"At night time you think about all the people you killed. It just never gets off your head, none of this stuff does. There's no chance to forget it, we're still here, we've been here so long. Most people leave after combat but we haven't…Some soldiers don't even f****** sleep at night. They sit up all f****** night long doing s*** to keep themselves busy - to keep their minds off this f****** stuff. It's the only way they can handle it. It's not so far from being crazy but it's their way of coping. There's one guy trying to build a little pool out the back, pointless stuff but it keeps him busy."
-Cpl. Richardson, The Evening Standard, June 19, 2003"For me, it's like snap-shot photos. Like pictures of maggots on tongues, babies with their heads on the ground, men with their heads halfway off and their eyes wide open and mouths wide open. I see it every day, every single day. The smells and the torsos burning, the entire route up to Baghdad, from 20 March to 7 April, nothing but burned bodies."
-Sgt. Meadows, The Evening Star, June 19, 2003''Little kids wave at us and their parents slap them in the back of the head and make them stop…It makes me feel like I wasted my time over here and they don't appreciate what we did…''
-Spc. Anthony Combs, Associated Press, June 17, 2003