This video was made by U.S. Army Specialist Colby Buzzell, and details the events of a battle that he was in during his tour in Iraq. He animated a series of his own drawings (which are amazing) to tell the story. The video doesn't get all political about the war, nor am I going to start getting political about it in this post. I just though it was a very well done video. It was interesting to see what a soldier's perspective is on what's going on over there. Sometimes it's better to get the story straight from the horse's mouth, than to see it on a news station that is going to slant it to match their particular viewpoint. I've watched a ton of soldier submitted video footage from Iraq on YouTube. All you have to do on YouTube is search for "Iraq videos" or "Iraq footage" or something like that, and a plethora of videos will come up. They are all really cool to watch, because you get to see exactly what goes on, how the soldiers go about everything, and what the outcome is. After watching a bunch of the soldier's videos, I personally think it's going a lot better over there than what the media and Democrats tell us...again...they have their own agenda to push, but actual footage submitted by the soldiers is unbiased because...well...because it's submitted by them. However, no matter what your view on the war is, you have to give the soldiers infinite amounts of respect for the shit they deal with everyday over there so all of us here in the States don't have to. Here is the video:
The War In Iraq: A Soldiers Perspective - Brought to you by Break.com Video Search
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I wanted to write something on your blog, as almost a discussion thing, but i cant... so i leave it here.
There are five Iraqis in a boat in the middle of the ocean. Right in the middle of their boat is a huge spike with barbs all around it and razor edges. The Iraqis don't like it being there, but they don't dare remove it because getting near it is very dangerous and, besides, it is kind of holding the boat together.
Forty Americans pull up alongside in a much bigger, better equipped boat, and they see the spike and the predicament the Iraqis are in. Partly because they think the spike is dangerous to the Iraqis, and partly on the theory that it could be dangerous to other boats, they decide they must remove the spike. Five Americans jump in and swiftly knock out the spike, because despite it being dangerous, they have excellent spike-removal tools.
The Iraqis are partly happy, because now their dangerous spike is gone, and partly worried, because now there is a hole in the bottom of their boat and they are taking on water.
The Americans say, "Okay, this water is a new challenge we weren't necessarily expecting, but we have pretty good buckets for bailing out the water." So a few of the Americans get out of the Iraqi boat, and a few more with buckets get in, and the Americans start bailing out the boat.
These Americans are trying to teach the Iraqis how to bail out the boat too, but they aren't sure the Iraqis can handle it by themselves. And the problem is, while the Americans have excellent spike-removal tools and decent water-bailing tools, they don't have any hole-repairing tools.
So the Iraqis are trying to learn how to bail and are also trying to work on repairing the boat, but they don't really have any tools whatsoever, so repairing the boat isn't going so well. Every so often a few Americans come off and a few more come on, but by now almost all the Americans have been on the Iraqi boat longer than they would have liked.
There is some dispute as to how well the Americans are doing at bailing out the boat, but if the Americans stop bailing, the boat is going to sink, and if the Americans are on it, they will sink with it.
And the Americans are divided: half say we need to get out of this sinking boat, and the other half say we have to keep bailing because it would be disastrous if the boat sank. But the problem isn't the water, it's the hole in the boat, and no one knows how to repair it.
And thus is the Iraq metaphor.
Ahhhhh...that's a good analogy. You are wise beyond your years, Steve...haha. I agree though...without us helping them...Iraq is gonna go down the drain pretty damn fast. The only question is...what is the real life "hole in the boat" that we need fix? Is it the Sunni-Shiite divide, the training of Iraqi troops, or the influx of terrorists and weapons from Iran...or all three together? Wouldn't it be cool if we could just restart this level and put in some infinite health and infinite ammo cheat codes? Then we could just mow through the entire middle east and take care of all the terrorists without anyone complaining about the soldiers dying or the cost of the war.
Even with "infinite health" and "infinite ammo," it would be near impossible to "mow through the entire middle east and take care of all the terrorists."
The Iraq Army and police force has made much progress with coalition and US training, but is still wrought with infiltration from local militias to foreign insurgents. This adds to the problem of telling friend from enemy.
Furthermore, the task of telling Sunni from Shi'ite is not always that simple. See http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/17/opinion/17stein.html?ex=1318737600&en=c5709ea7c5631b3f&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
Some of our very own officials cannot even tell the difference and that does not bode well for future endearments.
As the analogy addresses, was the US even prepared to engage in this conflict and civil war, and ALL the consequences. We don't necessarily have the best record to say yes to that. (i.e. Vietnam)
In conclusion, I believe that you are correct in saying it is important to listen to the troops who are there. How can we get a real understanding of what it is like over there from politicians and talking heads, in a country and world where there is always an underlying, and often political, agenda?
For the NYTimes article, go to nytimes.com and search for
"Can You Tell a Sunni From a Shiite?"
Yeah i agree with ya Mike. I was only trying to make light of an otherwise dire situation. Realistically we could never mow through the middle east like many people wish we could do, or should have done on Sept. 12, 2001.
I've been hearing about all the difficulties with telling friendly Iraqi from enemy Iraqi too, since they all dress the same, and sometimes impersonate one another. I guess there's really nothing you can do about that. We have our crazy bombs and weapons and advanced technologies, and they have the tactics of dressing up in disguise...its funny how sometimes a guy in disguise can be just as deadly as a bomb, especially if he has one strapped to his chest.
As far as what the troops say is concerned...we definitely need to start listening to them more. They've been saying all along that they need more help there to enforce security and to train Iraqi forces for our replacement...so finally Bush decides to send more troops, and the Congress and Senate don't want to allow it, mainly because of the Democrat-majority's agenda (like you said), all when the troops have publicly said that more troops would help them get the job done better! It's just insane how oblivious to the reality of the situation some of these Democrats are! It's like they don't even pay attention to what the troops say, like it goes in one ear and out the other! It's just fucking frustrating...
Democrats and Republicans have their own agenda. One can't be singled out over the other, esp. with issues like the war and support for current legislation. In many instances, both sides of the aisle in Congress have rallied against the current administration.
yeah i know both sides have their own agendas about stuff...but i'm sayin it's just fucked up that when the troops try to explain to our leaders what the reality of the Iraq/terrorism situation is, the Democrats (and a few Republicans) have the balls to take it with a grain of salt just so they could push their "anti-whatever-Bush-does" agenda.
Interesting to know.
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