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Remarks by John Scripsick, IVAW Press Conference, Oklahoma City, August 18, 2008
John Scripsick speaking at IVAW press conference in OKlahoma City (AP Photo)
My son was first northwest of Baghdad near a dam on the Euphrates River. Pretty quiet but hot. He said it was like farming when the air conditioner quits in the tractor or combine. He said it was mostly rocks and sand but people from villages would herd their goats in the hills. At night they would keep their goats in their houses or yards if the fence was good enough. Said every few miles along the Euphrates River was a small village, compared to towns here, maybe 200-400 people. His platoon was at an outpost close enough to two villages that they could hear the music from loudspeakers when it was time for the people to pray, I think five times a day. The outpost was several miles from a base with one lone tree a quarter mile north and the rest sand but he could see hills in the distance. House to house searches he noticed the poverty, compared to our country. One boy had a Mickey Mouse t-shirt on and would smile when the troops would say Mickey Mouse. We talked about the troops needing bomb dogs to search houses and find IEDs. Dirt yards but one man had an eight foot square of green grass by his house, that he carried water to, he was proud of it and took a picture with my son.
Along the rivers women would farm small plots. They would plant, cultivate and harvest them then they men would drive it to market. Heard from other troops there is more farming in southern Iraq. One said in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq he thought the people had more European facial features. One said along the rivers were some palm groves, walk inside and there was a breeze to cool off but walk out in the desert sun and there was no breeze just the desert sun bearing down. Seeing pictures of the sand storms reminded me of the dust bowl days neighboring farmers talked about when I was young. One troop said it was like your face wet with sweat and blowing a hot hair dryer at your face and shaking sand between your face and the dryer. That will make a shower feel good next week. Toward the end of his tour they moved to the Albu Hyatt region.
We should all feel very spoiled with our lifestyle compared to our troops. No Wal-Marts or QuickStops, just open markets for the people to shop. The troops talked about open markets with chickens and goats hanging with flies covering them in the desert heat. I also was told there's no private land owners in Iraq, no fences, just land open to the people who live there. I see this war as the old soldiers at the bases with plenty of food and a shower every day while the young soldiers are amongst the Iraqi civilians. This one time the young might know more than the old. I asked a soldier back from Afghanistan how we can fight radical Islam? He said bullets or force would not work but maybe education and knowledge would.
My picture of this Iraq war is many good young men suffer while a few older men profit!!
