Back from Iraq!

kevin · First Sergeant Joined: 19 May 2005 Posts: 31

Hello everyone. I am back from spending the last year in Iraq as a mobilized reservist. Something I look forward to this year is expanding the information in CivilWar.com.

About a year and a half ago I had grand plans to add content about the generals, slavery, add some nice features, including interactive battle pages and an improved search capability.

Then I got this notice that I was needed to serve in Iraq.

Feel free to fire away with questions about what is going on in Iraq. I will answer what I can. And for the record, I was glad to have the opportunity to serve my country and defend our freedom, much like I believe those who fought in the Civil War were glad to do the same.

Also, feel free to let me know what you would most like to see in this site.

And for anyone who cares, we are winning in Iraq. We are not out of the weeds there by any means, but we are making headway!

Animelover921 · Corporal Joined: 02 Mar 2008 Posts: 7

What IS going on in Iraq? I dont know what the war is about and I cant get a straight answer from anyone. I'm confused! Crying or Very sad

could you please tell me what the war in Iraq is about?

kevin · First Sergeant Joined: 19 May 2005 Posts: 31

The war in Iraq is about 2 things, really. First is the fight against extreme Islamic sponsored terrorism, understanding that not all Islam is sponsoring terrorism. The reason for staying in the region is really about the oil.

About that oil - Throught the straights of Hormuz, dominated by Iran, flows roughly 25% of the worlds oil supply. Most of this oil is headed for Europe or the far east. However it constitutes something like 60% of their supply.

It isn't about proffits for the oil companies, although a shrude businessman doesn't have to be that shrude to take advantage of turmoil in the middle east. In fact, the countries that supply the oil may in fact welcome/cause the turmoil or foment it to raise the prices - they proffit the most.

In short, we went into Iraq because Sadam Hussein was thought to be sponsoring terrorist training and developing chemical and nuclear weapons. We feared those items would be given to terrorists. We knew Sadam had plotted to assassinate then President George H.W. Bush (the guy before Clinton). We knew Sadam had provided refuge to several well known terrorists in the region (Abu Abbass for example). We also knew Sadam had resisted all efforts by the UN to review his nuclear program.

What we discovered in Iraq - There were in fact terrorist training camps. Sadam Hussein had at a minimum turned a blind eye to Al-Qaida operating and recruiting in Iraq. There were massive stores of munitions, some of which still contained chemical agents. There was not a centralized manufacturing facility for chemical agents in operation, however.

One of the more interesting things I saw in Iraq was a throne Yasser Arafat gave to Sadam Hussein, which Sadam kept in one of his primary palaces.

So, should we have gone in? In my opinion yes, based on the evidence we had at the time and based on what we knew then and still know about Sadam Hussein and his regime.

Should we still be there? In my opinion yes. This one is a bit stickier and I will refrain from going into all the reasons here. Let's just say there are military, political and humanitarian reasons for staying until the job is done.

What is the answer in Iraq politically? That is a really tough question, actually. I am not referring to American politcs. I am referring to Iraqi and regional politics. Iraq sits in a unique position in the Middle East - it divides the Shiites from the Sunnis. It controls vast reserves of oil and it houses the holiest sites of Shia Islam.

Iran is Shia, Saudi Arabia is Sunni. Iranians are Persian, Saudi Arabians are Arabs. Iraqis are Arab also, even the 60% who are Shia. In Iran, they speak Farsi. In Iraq they speak Arabic, as in Egypt and Saudi Arabia, etc.

I can go on for days with the intracies of the tribes, the religions, the topography and the history, but the above should give a broad brush overview of why we went in and what it was about.

How much longer will it take? Realistically, if we quit the political grandstanding, less than 24 months until we are able to withdraw the vast majority of our troops. It may be as little as 12-18 months from now.

No matter who wins the White House this election, they will likely be able to claim they ended the war and brought the troops home.

Animelover921 · Corporal Joined: 02 Mar 2008 Posts: 7

What are munitions? Other than that, i totally get it now. Wink

But why dont we just pull out all of our troops, then just nuke them off the map, and claim the territorry as ours? We don't even have to repopulate it, we could just get oil from it, then when it dries up, we could think of repopulating it, but then again it would be a little hard, what with the not-being-adjacent-to-us thing.

LindaEadesBlackburn · Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2008 8:50 pm Post subject:

Kevin, I for one, would like to thank you for defending our Country.

Leon · Sergeant Joined: 12 Apr 2008 Posts: 14 Location: London

Kevin, thanks for your honesty about the oil business. I think most soldiers or mobilized reservists would deny any connection to oil.