Sgt. Zachary Scott-Singley is a soldier in Iraq. I read his blog daily to get a perspective on the war through the eyes of our armed forces. He is on leave right now but I still check in to see if he has returned. Someone posted this letter on his blog yesterday:
A Letter to the British People.
From Iman as-Saadun.
I’m sending this letter to the British people and in particular to the residents of London. For a period of hours, you have lived through moments of desperate anxiety and horror. In those hours you lost a member of your family or a friend, and we wish to tell you in total honesty that we too grieve when human lives pass away. I cannot tell you how much we hurt when we see desperation and pain on the face of another person. For we have lived through this situation – and continue to live through it every day – since your country and the United States formed an alliance and laid plans to attack Iraq.
The Prime Minister of your country, Tony Blair, said that those who carried out the explosions did so in the name of Islam. The Secretary of State of the United States, Condaleezza Rice, described the bombings as an act of barbarism. The United Nations Security Council met and unanimously condemned the event.
I would like to ask you, the free British people, to allow me to inquire: in whose name was our country blockaded for 12 years? In whose name were our cities bombed using internationally prohibited weapons? In whose name did the British army kill Iraqis and torture them? Was that in your name? Or in the name of religion? Or humanity? Or freedom? Or democracy?
What do you call the killing of more than two million children? What do you call the pollution of the soil and the water with depleted uranium and other lethal substances?
What do you call what happened in the prisons in Iraq – in Abu Ghraib, Camp Bucca and the many other prison camps? What do you call the torture of men, women, and children? What do you call tying bombs to the bodies of prisoners and blowing them apart? What do you call the refinement of methods of torture for use on Iraqi prisoners – such as pulling off limbs, gouging out eyes, putting out cigarettes on their skin, and using cigarette lighters to set fire to the hair on their heads? Does the word “barbaric” adequately describe the behavior of your troops in Iraq?
May we ask why the Security Council did not condemn the massacre in al-Amiriyah and what happened in al-Fallujah, Tal‘afar, Sadr City, and an-Najaf? Why does the world watch as our people are killed and tortured and not condemn the crimes being committed against us? Are you human beings and we something less? Do you think that only you can feel pain and we can’t? In fact it is we who are most aware of how intense is the pain of the mother who has lost her child, or the father who has lost his family. We know very well how painful it is to lose those you love.
You don’t know our martyrs, but we know them. You don’t remember them, but we remember them. You don’t cry over them, but we cry over them.
Have you heard the name of the little girl Hannan Salih Matrud? Or of the boy Ahmad Jabir Karim? Or Sa‘id Shabram?
Yes, our dead have names too. They have faces and stories and memories. There was a time when they were among us, laughing and playing. They had dreams, just as you have. They had a tomorrow awaiting them. But today they sleep among us with no tomorrow on which to wake.
We don’t hate the British people or the peoples of the world. This war was imposed upon us, but we are now fighting it in defense of our selves. Because we want to live in our homeland – the free land of Iraq – and to live as we want to live, not as your government or the American government wish.
Let the families of those killed know that responsibility for the Thursday morning London bombings lies with Tony Blair and his policies.
Stop your war against our people! Stop the daily killing that your troops commit! End your occupation of our homeland!
July 11, 2005 11:50 PM
Scary? I wonder if this person speaks for a majority of Iraqi's.
Life Is A Comedy For Those Who Think...
Tuesday, July 12, 2005 at 11:18 AM
Don't Blame Me I'm Fighting For MY Country....
Woody (Tokin Librul/Rogue Scholar/ Helluvafella!) said...
if the truth is scary, i suppose this qualifies...
because the writer speaks nothing but the truth...
the west (US&Britain, mainly) have proceeded as if there were no innocents in Iraq whose care and safety are of legitimate concern.
why, then, should Iraqis, or their allies--all of whom see themselves, in potential, in the faces of the dead and maimed Iraqis--share a concern or care for the (on the same logic) fatally complicit citizens of the countries which have attacked, invaded, occupied, and raped Iraq?
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Mountain Girl said...
Well said konopelli. Thanks for stopping by.
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said...
I could not have said it better and I agree wholeheartedly!
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said...
I assume there is no reply from the soldier concerned to confirm or deny any of these acts or suchlike in Iraq.
Of course there will have been things that will be disturbing in Iraq, there has been a war! This is not to say it these events or indeed the war is in any way justified. But propoganda from both sides means it is impossible to know what happened there unless we were there ourselves. This seems like another piece of propoganda, or at least someone who has taken some propoganda to heart.
The sooner the Iraqi people have control over their country the better, I just hope that all the foreign troops are given the support they need to help do this, whilest any who are doing evil should expect to pay the price!
In reply to konopelli's statement that "the west has proceeded as if there were no innocents in Iraq...", I find this hard to believe due to the good nature of many people who have spent time in the British Army in Iraq. Yes there are idiots who have more power than they should, but there are plenty of people over there who are concerned with helping Iraq and the Iraqi people.
Forgive my rant, but I dont like people telling me that all British troops are commiting such atrocities, as i dont believe that this the case. All I know is that too many people in all the worlds countries have died in the name of greed!
Good health to all!
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Mountain Girl said...
Bish,
I too support our troops. It is not a question of loyalty to the troops. The troops are pawns in this game. They must do what they are told or face life-long consequences. I hope that we can break this cycle of attack and be attacked. We are perpetuating terrorism, in my opinion, by occupying Iraq.
Thanks for stopping by!
Blessings Abound!
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said...
I am a veteran, as is my husband and many of our friends. We have friends in Iraq.
The USA and the United Kingdom have bent over backwards to avoid civilian casualties in this war. The Iraqi Baathists are the ones killing other Iraqis. They want to continue their regime of torture and murder.
This is not the viewpoint of a typical Iraqi.
But, I suppose you have to look for something to prove your point of view, don't ya, Mountain Girl?
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Mountain Girl said...
Beth-
I am not trying to prove anything. I merely came across something I found disturbing. I hope the people that view what I have written see fit to make up their own minds. I am sure you and yours have done a wonderful job for our country. I thank you for that. I do have many opinions about this war that do not reflect well on today's administration. As bd said, this IS war. That being said, if any Iraqi civilians are injured it is not because of inadequate soldiers, it is because we shouldn't be there in the first place.
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said...
I think what I hate about this "post 9/11 world", is the division of our United States. Everyone is at ill with everyone, and there are propaganda and lies at work from all sides. I am not smart, but I know when I do not have enough information, or when the information I have is conflicting. I hear the blue calling the red wrong and the red calling the blue stupid, if I were the Devil that started this I would be elated in the current situation.
Aesop said it best: "United we stand, divided we fall"
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said...
God what a bunch of morons. Were you all dropped on your heads as children? I hope you all become victims in the next attack, since you love the terrorists so much.
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said...
What kind of person wishes people to be caught up in terrorist attacks just because they are clearly less enlightened? (Yes, sarcasm is the lowest form of wit - but its better than wishing people get ditressed, injured or killed!)
Hurria - I am not American! Nor do I live there, and have only visited the country on holiday 4 times. What is the matter with finding someones ideas scary? I would find it more disturbing if MG had read the article and thought it was pleasent!
TJ seems to have it right - lack of information is the key, which is why I value Beths statements with highest regard, even if it a little strong, and only contains a local view of events. First hand sources of information are always the best available!
Keep up the good work MG - seems like you are getting some nice lively debates going on, even if they do get a tad childish at times! I look forward to more sedate festival/music reviews as well though!
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Mountain Girl said...
Thanks Bish. We can only learn if we open our minds to new ideas.
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