Words from the front-lines

“They’re tired. They’re tired of being here.” – Navy Lt. Matthew Weems, chaplain for the 3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, Fallujah, Iraq.

“This will be the last time we do this. When we get back, we’re done – out of the Marine Corps.” – Cpl. John Woodham, 3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, Fallujah, Iraq.

“There’s nobody to be bitter at. To the dude that hit me with a grenade, he had just as good a reason to be there in his thinking as I did. I’m not happy with him but I don’t resent him for it. … I’d go back in a heart beat because my guys are still there, but they got off the plane, so hell no I’m not going back.’’ – Spc. Kevin Pannell, Charlie Company, 39th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, Arkansas National Guard, on the Iraqi resistance fighter who threw a grenade at him.

“When people say that war is the most terrible thing, they ain’t wrong. The things it does to people. You think that killing people for your country is cool, but when you do, it just numbs you.” – Sgt. Dave Bowden, Alpha Company, Task Force 2-2, 1st Infantry Division, Fallujah, Iraq.

“It’s intense, that’s about all there is to say. The determination these guys have against our forces, these little bands of guys shooting at tanks, it’s almost admirable.” – Spc. John Bandy, Alpha Company, Task Force 2-2, 1st Infantry Division, Fallujah, Iraq.

“I don’t want my boy to know his daddy’s a killer.” – Sgt. Randy Laird, Alpha Company, Task Force 2-2, 1st Infantry Division, Fallujah, Iraq.

“I just want to stay alive and go home with all my body parts.” – Sgt. David Phillips, Mosul, Iraq.

“I don’t think we’re being completely clean about the reasons that we’re really over there and how we’re really treating the people. Those incidents of, say, prisoner abuse don’t just go on in certain places; they’re happening everywhere, all over the country. It’s not necessarily just the insurgents who are against us. I think it’s the general population of people. They get tired of seeing armed soldiers. What would you say if you saw Muslims from a different country out patrolling your streets every day? I’d be out there fighting them too.” – Army Spc. James Furnas

“My message in my rap is that I have a lot of anger about the war. Why are we there? Why me? That’s basically what I want to say when I write: Why?” – Sgt. Nick Moncrief, on his rap lyrics.

“When you’re out on the street it’s hard to tell who is friendly and who is the enemy – they can attack us and then melt back into the background. They’re very well organized, they have a network of people helping them, informing them of our movements. They have kids running round, acting as their spotters because they know we can’t shoot unarmed civilians. They also know the place much better than us. ... Let’s face it, there’s not a lot of love for us here.” – Sgt. Richard Mitchell, 82nd Airborne, Predator Palace, Baghdad.

“If anyone gets too close to us we fucking waste them. It’s kind of a shame, because it means we’ve killed a lot of innocent people.” – Anonymous Lieutenant, Ramadi, Iraq.

“The band’s upset. Everybody thought the band was a sacred cow. We all thought there’s no way they’ll send a Guard band to Iraq.” – Chief Warrant Officer Joseph Martellaro, conductor and commander of the 199th Band of the N.Y. National Guard

Sources:
Mike Dorning, Chicago Tribune, March 10, 2005, http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0503100300ma r10,1,4481672.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed&ctrack=2&cset=true
Caryn Rousseau, "Injured soldier feels more alive than ever," Daily Ardmoreite, March 10, 2005, http://www.ardmoreite.com/stories/031005/liv_0310050028.shtml
Tom Lasseter "The battle of Fallujah," Knight Ridder Newspapers, Nov 24, 2004, http://www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/article.asp?ID=2533
Rory Carroll, "I Just Want to Survive and Go Home with All My Body Parts," The Guardian U.K., March 4, 2005, http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/030705L.shtml
Rone Tempest, "Who's Dying in Our War?", Los Angeles Times, January 30, 2005, http://www.latimes.com/features/printedition/magazine/la-tm-calguard0 5jan30,0,452235.story?coll=la-home-magazine
Larry Oakes, "Coping with war: View from Cloquet" Star Tribune, February 26, 2005, http://www.startribune.com/stories/1762/5261584.html
Monica Davey, "Fighting Words" The New York Times, February 20, 2005, www.truthout.org/docs_2005/022005Z.shtml
Phil Sands, Gulf Daily News, January 21, 2004
The Economist, "When deadly force bumps into hearts and minds," Dec 29, 2004, http://fairuse.1accesshost.com/news3/ economist.html
Alan Feuer, New York Times Service, February 19, 2005