INTERVIEW WITH SUE & "BOB'S"LETTERS HOME
Sue� son, �ob,�is with the Army� Armored Cavalry about 60 miles north of Baghdad in Habiniyah.
Sue: Bob is a twin and he and his brother enlisted after high school. A very enthusiastic recruiter came to our home and Bob was excited and ready to join.
My boys went with a friend and his father for induction. His friend� father balked at having his son inoculated with the Anthrax vaccine and that boy didn� go into the military. Bob receive the shots and has been in the Army since before 9/11. He and his twin brother signed up for four years but his brother left the military after his first tour. Bob signed up for four more years. He isn� in tanks but does office work, guards detainees, and transports good.
While we�e not a military family my nephew, my brother� son, is Airborne and very gung ho. One day he wants to be President of the United States and he believes to do that he must have a military background. My brother is a rabid believer in President Bush and he believes in this war. He may have felt differently if he� been drafted to Vietnam. We don� talk about politics but he supports my son and I appreciate that.
In my opinion Bush hasn� looked presidential since 9/11. I�e always been opposed to actions for empire. I see Bush as a megalomaniac and a talking head who is a puppet in the hands of more powerful and experienced people. I have an extremely strong sense that this action in Iraq is profit motivated and not about what� good and what� right. I agree that Iraq� former regime was not good but the United States shouldn� be the arbiter of the world.
As for Bush� statement, �ring it on,�you�l notice that no one from his family is over there. Nor are family members of any members of Congress or Bush� cabinet fighting anywhere.
I believe Iraqis are every bit as passionate about their home and their land and their philosophy as we are. We� fight just as passionately as they�e fighting if anyone invaded our land. If we hadn� bombed the schools, roads, and hospitals in the first place we wouldn� have to rebuild them �not that we�e rebuilding anything there now.
As for the news about mistreatment and torture at Abu Ghraib, it wasn� a shock to me. This is what war can do to people. Most soldiers are not trained for policing detainees and they�e forced into horrible circumstances that harden their hearts to what they�e asked to do. In my communications with Bob I�e noticed a disturbing trend towards speaking casually about the demeaning way people are treated. He� mentioned that, when US soldiers are fired upon, they leave detainees behind, sometimes still tied to poles. [Read Bob� letters at the end of this interview.]
After the news about Abu Ghraib I emailed Bob and told him that, while I can� appreciate the situation he� in, I urge him to remember that he� dealing with human beings.
I remember Vietnam and I don� want our boys and girls to come back home to that kind of hostility.
Recently Bob� letters have become shorter and shorter. Whereas we received 20 pages or more about a month ago, now we receive a paragraph or two. When I ask him about his state of mind he says he� �kayjust a bit depressed with being in this place.�He says he doesn� have the heart to write much anymore.
I� sad that his life has changed for the worst. He�l not be able to forget these life-changing events, he�l never be back to where he can ignore things that go �oom�in the night. There� no un-ringing that bell.
This war makes me feel hopeless about the world situation. Now that my family is involved in this I understand what colors our world �and it� not a good color.
"Bob's" Letters Home from Habiniyah (near Ramadi and Fallujah)