Words from the front-lines

"Hello, Hey Mama. Well, sorry I haven't been able to call. They took the phone seven days ago. I got the letter and box. That is so cool, your first grandson came the same day your oldest son did. How is everyone? I'm doing fine, we are just out here in the sand in the windstorms waiting. What in the world is wrong with George? Trying to be like his dad. Bush. He got us out here for nothing whatsoever I'm so furious right now. Mama, I really hope they do not re-elect that fool honestly. I am in good spirits and I am doing okay. I really miss you guys. Thanks for the Bible and books and candy. I really look forward to letters from you guys. Well tell all the family "Hello" and that I am doing fine. We don't expect anything to happen any time soon. I cannot wait to get home and get back to my life. Tell Sputnik(?) congrats and I'll see my first nephew soon. As soon as I get back to the states. Hope you guys are doing okay. And keep sending the mail, it makes getting through the days easier. Well, I'm on my way to bed so I will write you guys soon. I love and miss all of you guys." - Sgt. Michael Pedersen, crew chief on a Blackhawk that crashed in Iraq April 2, 2003. This was his last letter to his mother, Lisa Lipscomb, who was featured in Fahrenheit 9/11.

"People have been waiting a full year, hearing, ‘It's going to happen, it's going to happen.' My patience probably would have run out too." - Lt. Col. Gary Volesky, 2nd Battalion, 1st Cavalry Division, referring to the electricity being restored in Sadr City, Baghdad, Iraq.

"Being in Iraq sucks. Let me rephrase that. Being over there is emotionally straining on you, and you are missing your family." - Army Pfc. Derrick Crumpaker, 3rd Brigade, Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, Ad Duluiyah, Iraq.

"I'm tired of every time we go out the gate, someone tries to kill me." - Staff Sgt. Sheldon Rivers, Ramadi, Iraq.

"We still haven't found any WMD. It was wrong, totally wrong. The way I feel is that we are fighting an American war. It is all for Bush's cabinet and campaign." - British Corporal Simon Stone, Cheshire Regiment, Basra, Iraq.

"If I leave here, I'm going AWOL, I'm not coming back," - Master Sgt. Thomas R. Thigpen, who fell dead of a heart attack during a touch football game in Kuwait on March 16 at age 52.

"When people [politicians and journalists] come over here, where do they stay? In the Green Zone. I call it the Safe Zone. They miss the full picture. It's just like the West, when we were trying to settle it with the Indians." - Sgt. Maj. John Jones, Ramadi, Iraq.

"A lof times, I look at this place and wonder what have we really done. ... When we first got here, we all wanted to change it and make it better, but now I don't give a shit. What the hell am I here for?" - Sgt. 1st Class James Tilley, Ramadi, Iraq.

"I don't have any idea of what we're trying to do out here. I don't know what the goal is, and I don't think our commanders do either. I feel deceived personally. I don't trust anything Rumsfeld says, and I think Wolfowitz is even dirtier." - Staff Sgt. A.J. Dean, Ramadi, Iraq.

"We find that if we don't go there, they won't shoot us." - Capt. Joe Jaspar, 1st Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, Ramadi, Iraq.

“I didn’t think it would be like this. No one is going through what we are going through. … They just don’t want us here. I hope that all of us make it back. I pray that we all do, but I don’t think it could get any worse. This is worse. I’ll do everything I can to bring all the soldiers back. Anything.” – Sgt. Reggie Butler, 1st Battalion, 5th Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division, in Sadr City, Baghdad, Iraq.

Sources:
Alex Rodriguez, "Violence hampers soldiers in Baghdad's `slum of slums'", Chicago Tribune, July 9, 2004, http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/news/world/9106202.htm
Dan Cortez, "Local soldier to resume his tour of duty, " News-Sentinel, July 10, 2004, http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/9125736.htm
Tom Lasseter, "Troops question mission," Knight Ridder Newspapers, July 22, 2004, http://www.seacoastonline.com/news/07212004/world/27910.htm
Terri Judd, "Troops taking pride in doing the right thing - ousting Saddam, rebuilding Iraq - even for the wrong reasons," The Independent, July 11th, 2004, http://www.occupationwatch.org/article.php?id=5816
Edward Wyatt, "In Iraq War, Death Also Comes to Soldiers in Autumn of Life," New York Times, July 18, 2004, http://www.occupationwatch.org/article.php?id=5951
Tom Lasseter, "In the face of stubborn insurgency, troops scale back Anbar patrols," Knight Ridder Newspapers, July 20, 2004, http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/9200682.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Philip Robertson, "'No one is going through what we are going through,'" July 12, 2004, http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2004/07/12/patrol/print.html