Wednesday - April 20, 2005
Feeding Sparrows in Iraq
I tossed bread crumbs to sparrows, but they
didn't pick them up. Sparrows in Iraq don't know that people sometimes toss
food to them.
I finally gave up, put on
my war gear and climbed into the amtrac. A short time later we were in the
town.
Tanks rolled in with the amtracs,
helicopters inserted while cobras and huey gunships flew overhead, fighter jets
kept watch and the Marines swarmed the town. It must have been intimidating to
most of the people there. People in Al Anbar don't seem to know that Marines
are there to help them.
We took possession of a recreation center, and
used it as a headquarters. It was one of the nicer buildings I'd been in since
arriving in this country, but that's not saying much. It looks like it hasn't
been used in a year or so. New wrestling shoes were stacked up in a room, all
still in their boxes. All the furniture was stacked in the auditorium. A
window was broken. All the rooms were empty. It had the usual haji electrical
system, wires running here and there, a fire hazard, but better than most
places.
Children, like rodents, were
outside demanding that we give them soccer balls. Ill manners are a feature of
Iraqis, don't let anyone convince you otherwise. They all lie, they all live
like pigs. None of them understand that they are responsible for their own
country.
If you took 1000 Americans
and plopped them in Al Anbar province, they would have a thriving economy in a
few months. They would kill off the muj, they would irrigate the fields, they
would make something out of what they have. They wouldn't tolerate murderers
among them.
But the Iraqis do tolerate
them. They let fear control them. They are
cows.
The other day I saw some sparrows
eating bread crumbs I had tossed to them an hour earlier. I tossed a few more
but they flew away again. Someday the sparrows will learn that the breadcrumbs
being tossed are the same ones they enjoyed.
We will liberate Iraq from the
murderers. We will allow them to free themselves, it's been happening
throughout the rest of the country and it will happen here. Someday the Iraqis
will learn that the only way to win their freedom is to take charge of their
towns themselves.
Until then, tanks
will roll and Marines will knock on their doors asking for names of the muj.
Someday they will learn.
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