Wednesday - April 20, 2005

Category Image 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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