Put up or Shut up!!!

[WARPIG]

The US war with Iraq has been the subject of many flames and disagreements in this forum. Perhaps between the disagreeing sides one common thing might be acomplished... contribute. If you are one of those who seem to thrive on bad mouthing all things American.. well, do something about it. Find a better way to handle things and do it. If your government has a better solution, instead of talking about it, act on it.
Since most of us don't have the power to simply do that... how about this, we support those who need help.
Many soldiers from many countries are doing things to help the Iraqi people. List those things here. I know that the media doesn't cover those things too often, but find those stories somehow. Post them here. Find those organizations like the one I will post below and do something!
[
b]Soldier conducts toy drive for Iraqi children [/b]
By Cpl. Todd Pruden
BAGHDAD, Iraq (Army News Service, Oct. 27, 2003) - Chief Warrant Officer Paul Holton, has spearheaded a toy-drive to brighten the lives of misfortunate children in Baghdad. Armed with a busload of toys and his warm demeanor, he visited as hospital many rooms as he could, distributing toys, checking on the children's progress, and talking to their mothers.

"I am trying to do something for the Iraqi children," said the interrogator with the 141st Military Intelligence Battalion, a Utah Army National Guard unit from Salt Lake City. "It's rewarding to perhaps change an attitude, change a perspective of a new generation of Iraqis and how they might feel about us and the rest of the world."

Dr. Quasem Al-Taey, director of the Central Teaching Hospital for Children in Baghdad, the hospital Holton visited, said the toys seem to lift the children's spirits.

"Happiness matters for the children," said Al-Taey. "It gives them the power to fight diseases."

According to Holton, the toy drive started when he asked friends to send things for Iraqi civilians. But that evolved into something more. He said things really kicked off when he saw a little girl crying at one of the coalition checkpoints, looking for her mother.

He rushed back to his office and grabbed some toys that had been sent to him and gave them to her to console her.

"Just from the joy I saw in her face and the smile and the twinkle in her eye, I knew I needed to do this on a larger scale," Holton said.

He then asked his friends to send toys, but that was not enough.

"I asked people to send more toys so I could do this in hospitals, orphanages, schools, and neighborhoods around Iraq," Holton said.

Holton decided to use the Internet as a medium to solicit this request.

Holton has a Web site where he posts his personal journal of experiences he has had in Iraq. When he posted his request for toys, the response was overwhelming.

"My Web site gets between 6,000 and 7,000 hits per day," he said. "It's definitely not my writing style or my interesting journal that's drawing in most of the people," Holton added.

The Web site, at http://chiefwiggles.blog-city.com, details what type of toys to send, the mailing address and also includes testimonials by Holton and photos of the actual distribution process.

Since the posting about the toy drive on his Web site, Holton said he has received more than 700 boxes of toys from people around the world.[/quote]

[pinkeye]

The US war with Iraq has been the subject of many flames and disagreements in this forum. Perhaps between the disagreeing sides one common thing might be acomplished... contribute. If you are one of those who seem to thrive on bad mouthing all things American.. well, do something about it. Find a better way to handle things and do it. If your government has a better solution, instead of talking about it, act on it.
Since most of us don't have the power to simply do that... how about this, we support those who need help.
Many soldiers from many countries are doing things to help the Iraqi people. List those things here. I know that the media doesn't cover those things too often, but find those stories somehow. Post them here. Find those organizations like the one I will post below and do something!
[
b]Soldier conducts toy drive for Iraqi children [/b]
By Cpl. Todd Pruden
BAGHDAD, Iraq (Army News Service, Oct. 27, 2003) - Chief Warrant Officer Paul Holton, has spearheaded a toy-drive to brighten the lives of misfortunate children in Baghdad. Armed with a busload of toys and his warm demeanor, he visited as hospital many rooms as he could, distributing toys, checking on the children's progress, and talking to their mothers.

"I am trying to do something for the Iraqi children," said the interrogator with the 141st Military Intelligence Battalion, a Utah Army National Guard unit from Salt Lake City. "It's rewarding to perhaps change an attitude, change a perspective of a new generation of Iraqis and how they might feel about us and the rest of the world."

Dr. Quasem Al-Taey, director of the Central Teaching Hospital for Children in Baghdad, the hospital Holton visited, said the toys seem to lift the children's spirits.

"Happiness matters for the children," said Al-Taey. "It gives them the power to fight diseases."

According to Holton, the toy drive started when he asked friends to send things for Iraqi civilians. But that evolved into something more. He said things really kicked off when he saw a little girl crying at one of the coalition checkpoints, looking for her mother.

He rushed back to his office and grabbed some toys that had been sent to him and gave them to her to console her.

"Just from the joy I saw in her face and the smile and the twinkle in her eye, I knew I needed to do this on a larger scale," Holton said.

He then asked his friends to send toys, but that was not enough.

"I asked people to send more toys so I could do this in hospitals, orphanages, schools, and neighborhoods around Iraq," Holton said.

Holton decided to use the Internet as a medium to solicit this request.

Holton has a Web site where he posts his personal journal of experiences he has had in Iraq. When he posted his request for toys, the response was overwhelming.

"My Web site gets between 6,000 and 7,000 hits per day," he said. "It's definitely not my writing style or my interesting journal that's drawing in most of the people," Holton added.

The Web site, at http://chiefwiggles.blog-city.com, details what type of toys to send, the mailing address and also includes testimonials by Holton and photos of the actual distribution process.

Since the posting about the toy drive on his Web site, Holton said he has received more than 700 boxes of toys from people around the world.[/quote]

allow the united nations to play a more prominent role. multilateralism works. many are critical of the policies, not the united states itself.

[usa320]

The UN was palying a role, until they ran away because of one car bombing.

[budanski]

Critics such as pinkeye would love to see Bush “cede control … to international organizations. The same U.N. that cut and ran in a matter of days after one homicide bombing on their headquarters in Baghdad. The same U.N. that refused to get involved in Rwanda to prevent genocide. The same U.N. that messed up Bosnia and Kosovo. The same U.N. that allows Qaddafi to head its human-rights commission.

Or are you complaining that, despite the multinational effort of 40 nations in Iraq, we don’t have France on board its not international enough? Probably because they had been too busy providing missiles to Saddam in defiance of a U.N. embargo. Right — the same U.N. missiles now being used to kill U.S. troops.

[Durandal]

The same U.N. that refused to get involved in Rwanda to prevent genocide. The same U.N. that messed up Bosnia and Kosovo. The same U.N. that allows Qaddafi to head its human-rights commission.

Preach on brother!

People seem to forget about these things. All three of them pissed me off. The first sits in my crawl the most though. The U.N. ALLOWED more people to be killed through genocide than a single month of Hitler's Germany.

The sad thing is that they had the troops to prevent it.

Airborne troops vs. a bunch of non-military toughs with machettes....come on!

Nothing made me more happy than seeing the commander of that unit step off the transport plane and throw the blue beret onto the ground. that guy was pissed.

I am no longer pissed. I simply consider the U.N. a bunch of kids living in a dream world and ignore them.

[Ratamacue]

Guys, let's keep this from being a negative thread bashing on the US, UN, whoever. This thread is about showing the positive things different groups are doing. Don't turn a positive thread into a flame war.

[ßå$tĮТHÏ¿ð]

Well personally Im not going to bash anyone here. If there was more people like that soldier willing to contribute and try to help the kids live a better life, which is the whole reason why they are there doing there jobs.

[Merik]

Critics such as pinkeye would love to see Bush “cede control … to international organizations. The same U.N. that cut and ran in a matter of days after one homicide bombing on their headquarters in Baghdad. The same U.N. that refused to get involved in Rwanda to prevent genocide. The same U.N. that messed up Bosnia and Kosovo. The same U.N. that allows Qaddafi to head its human-rights commission.

Or are you complaining that, despite the multinational effort of 40 nations in Iraq, we don’t have France on board its not international enough? Probably because they had been too busy providing missiles to Saddam in defiance of a U.N. embargo. Right — the same U.N. missiles now being used to kill U.S. troops.

****ing-A Bubba, ****ing-A.

[Durandal]

Ok, how about this...

Images

American

http://jccc.afis.osd.mil:80/LBOX/mini/904402.jpg

http://jccc.afis.osd.mil:80/LBOX/mini/904405.jpg

http://jccc.afis.osd.mil:80/LBOX/mini/903322.jpg

Chief Warrant Officer Paul Holton himself
http://jccc.afis.osd.mil:80/LBOX/mini/901057.jpg

http://jccc.afis.osd.mil:80/LBOX/mini/899737.jpg

http://jccc.afis.osd.mil:80/LBOX/mini/893413.jpg

Opening A New School
http://jccc.afis.osd.mil:80/LBOX/mini/890404.jpg

Training Iraqis
http://jccc.afis.osd.mil:80/LBOX/mini/887277.jpg

Firing A Tow during the fire fight that killed Saddam Hussein's sons Qusay and Uday
http://www.defenselink.mil/photos/Jul2003/030722-A-3450H-043.gif

British

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/39026000/jpg/_39026219_galahadafp203.jpg

General Info (Post Sept 1 2003)

http://www.centcom.mil/CENTCOMNews/News_Release.asp?NewsRelease=20031003.txt

http://www.centcom.mil/CENTCOMNews/News_Release.asp?NewsRelease=20031001.txt

http://www.centcom.mil/CENTCOMNews/News_Release.asp?NewsRelease=20030924.txt

http://www.centcom.mil/CENTCOMNews/News_Release.asp?NewsRelease=20030920.txt

http://www.centcom.mil/CENTCOMNews/News_Release.asp?NewsRelease=20030918.txt

http://www.centcom.mil/CENTCOMNews/News_Release.asp?NewsRelease=20030917.txt

http://www.centcom.mil/CENTCOMNews/News_Release.asp?NewsRelease=20030916.txt

http://www.centcom.mil/CENTCOMNews/News_Release.asp?NewsRelease=20030912.txt

http://www.centcom.mil/CENTCOMNews/News_Release.asp?NewsRelease=20030909.txt

I have not found much on the U.N., sorry...

[Fargin]

OMG pictures of smiling Iraqis and an objective NEWS RELEASE from
the HEADQUARTERS UNITED STATES CENTRAL COMMAND

I'll come aboard for the big win. p-)

[Durandal]

OMG pictures of smiling Iraqis and an objective NEWS RELEASE from
the HEADQUARTERS UNITED STATES CENTRAL COMMAND

I'll come aboard for the big win. p-)

Sorry, I forgot, all Iraqis hate the troops and the Guardian is an unbiased news source.

rofl

[GazB]

Geez... I've seen plenty of propaganda films from the 80s when the soviets were there, they planted trees and built schools and roads, and gave women equal rights and provided education and for many villagers medical care for the first time. I believe the US response was that communism was bad for the people of afghanistan and they supplied weapons and money to the opposition.

I doubt the Iraqi people understand or even want "American" democracy, especially if it is imposed on them by an occupying force.

Regarding the UN... the US said before the war started that they would either do it with the UN or they'd do it on their own. Seems to me that while they are very good at fighting wars and blowing things up that they are not able to build a country on their own any more (like they did with Germany and Japan). Of course with Germany and Japan they had the threat of communism to actually spend the money needed... Germany and Japan were the front line of the next "war" afterall.

"The U.N. ALLOWED more people to be killed through genocide than a single month of Hitler's Germany. "

Peace making was never the role of the UN. The only time the UN ever officially got involved with a real war was in Korea. The UN is an international forum for discussion and negotiation (and 4 hour power lunches for some fat lazy bstrds). It was never intended as an international police force. The Veto system effectively saw to that (the Korean war incident was a mistake where the Soviet delegation had walked out).

"The same U.N. that cut and ran in a matter of days after one homicide bombing on their headquarters in Baghdad."

That UN unit was not a military unit, it was more of an aide agency. If the Force in control fo the country is not in control of the country then you can't expect aide agencies to remain... it has been made clear often enough that this is America's war, I agree the UN shouldn't be there at all... America can sort it all out itself... its the worlds last superpower afterall.

[WARPIG]

Outstanding post Bastardchild!
Keep them coming.
For the rest of you wanting to flame this post.. fine... I expected it. Do me a favor though..before talking about how these stories are propoganda, go to sites like Chief Wiggles' and send a toy. Even if it is not his site.. find one that you think is helping and contribute something, then come tell us about it. Or.. contribute in secret and then come back and bad mouth the US some more... I don't care. Here's that site again.

http://chiefwiggles.blog-city.com

If you know some other ones or better ones.. don't be greedy.. tell us about them.

[Operation Ivy]

I must say i dont understand y the US media always tells the bad things that are going on in Iraq, they never mention anything good at all :oops:

[Durandal]

I must say i dont understand y the US media always tells the bad things that are going on in Iraq, they never mention anything good at all :oops:

Because depressing news sells better than "Marine's build school."

Welcome to my world. I see headlines in my local paper like "Gun Kills Girl" as if the gun was sort of being with evil intent. This is typical of most American media (and probably the world). Bad news sells. You never see articles where gun owners defend themselves, legally. it happens but unless it is high profile, you never hear about it.

As a people we also tend to take single, bad, events and make them appear to common. Not too sure why either, unless American's simply enjoy fearing things. Who knows.

Anyways, there is a lot of good going on. People can cry propoganda, but proving that the military is helping and that their are people in Iraq who enjoy us being there (as opposed to the other alternative).

I was listenig to NPR today because they were talking about ways the United States could pull out and for once I was suprised that while, obviously their guests were all pro-leave Iraq, the people that called in were pissed. There were a lot of "I opposed the war, but now that we are there, leaving would do more harm than good," comments.

Nice to hear.

[Nizark]

This is the same UN that loves to have peacekeepers put into harmful situations, but never likes to pull them out. UN still has guys in the golan since 1974, between india and pakistan since 1949, as well as tons of other deployments al over the place.

The US guys in the sinai...are they under UN mandate or US?

And the UN "military command" in korea...whats the cuirrent situation with that?

[WARPIG]

The biggest mistakes the US military has made involve leaving a conflict before we were done. 'Nam is seen publicly as "US boys dying in vain." Same with the Mog'. We need to stay the course in Iraq. We are helping too many people there right now and it would be a tragedy to leave them without any protection.
Keep looking for those positive stories and share them here. Find some of these charities and humanitarian programs and post the info.
"The process of creating new, democratic organs of government power is beginning, and, as never before, the greatest responsibility rests with the broadcast media."
~Eduard Sagalaev

[Saranof]

The same U.N. that refused to get involved in Rwanda to prevent genocide. The same U.N. that messed up Bosnia and Kosovo. The same U.N. that allows Qaddafi to head its human-rights commission.

Preach on brother!

People seem to forget about these things. All three of them pissed me off. The first sits in my crawl the most though. The U.N. ALLOWED more people to be killed through genocide than a single month of Hitler's Germany.

The sad thing is that they had the troops to prevent it.

Airborne troops vs. a bunch of non-military toughs with machettes....come on!

Nothing made me more happy than seeing the commander of that unit step off the transport plane and throw the blue beret onto the ground. that guy was pissed.

I am no longer pissed. I simply consider the U.N. a bunch of kids living in a dream world and ignore them.


Ahh, so you mean that the US has benn nice all through? I recall you only entered the 2 WW after YOU were attacked. The fact that H>itler was marching through Europe before that didn't worry you much it seams.

[WARPIG]

If you don't have something to contribute.. shut up.
Note the title of this thread.
BTW the US opposed actions in Europe and publicly stated this prior to our involvement in WWII. Just because we didn't send troops in the time frame you would approve doesn't take away from the result of our involvement.
Saranof find something positive to post here. Show some of your countryment doing something positive in Iraq. That is what this post is about.

[Seiyuuki]

Ahh, so you mean that the US has benn nice all through? I recall you only entered the 2 WW after YOU were attacked. The fact that H>itler was marching through Europe before that didn't worry you much it seams.

Look!!! It's like beating a dead horse.

[Ratamacue]

Ahh, so you mean that the US has benn nice all through? I recall you only entered the 2 WW after YOU were attacked. The fact that H>itler was marching through Europe before that didn't worry you much it seams.

You have to remember that the United States was an isolationist country at the time. Just remember how much aid we provided to the UK, China, and Russia before we entered the war though.

[spier]

Ahh, so you mean that the US has benn nice all through? I recall you only entered the 2 WW after YOU were attacked. The fact that H>itler was marching through Europe before that didn't worry you much it seams.

You have to remember that the United States was an isolationist country at the time. Just remember how much aid we provided to the UK, China, and Russia before we entered the war though. Isolationist? The US has never been isolationist except on paper. Read a book.

[Ratamacue]

The US people didn't want to get involved in either WW2 or WW1 until US interests were being threatened. The US government tried as hard as they could to maintain that stance. Get a grip.

[spier]

The US people didn't want to get involved in either WW2 or WW1 until US interests were being threatened. The US government tried as hard as they could to maintain that stance. Get a grip.Gee, and I who thought it was only because they wanted to maintain their "isolationist" policy. Oh wait, that was you who thought so..

Seriously, I have no idea what you were trying to acheive by rephrasing my point.

[Seiyuuki]

Ahh, so you mean that the US has benn nice all through? I recall you only entered the 2 WW after YOU were attacked. The fact that H>itler was marching through Europe before that didn't worry you much it seams.

You have to remember that the United States was an isolationist country at the time. Just remember how much aid we provided to the UK, China, and Russia before we entered the war though. Isolationist? The US has never been isolationist except on paper. Read a book.

You should try following your own advice.

[Ratamacue]

The US people didn't want to get involved in either WW2 or WW1 until US interests were being threatened. The US government tried as hard as they could to maintain that stance. Get a grip.Gee, and I who thought it was only because they wanted to maintain their "isolationist" policy. Oh wait, that was you who thought so..

Seriously, I have no idea what you were trying to acheive by rephrasing my point.

What don't you get? Because the US people wanted to be isolated, the US government tried to be isolated. Hence, the US was an isolationist country. Is it really that complicated?

[Seiyuuki]

Ahh, so you mean that the US has benn nice all through? I recall you only entered the 2 WW after YOU were attacked. The fact that H>itler was marching through Europe before that didn't worry you much it seams.

You have to remember that the United States was an isolationist country at the time. Just remember how much aid we provided to the UK, China, and Russia before we entered the war though. Isolationist? The
US has never been isolationist except on paper. Read a book.The US people didn't want to get involved in either WW2 or WW1 until US interests were being threatened. The US government tried as hard as they could to maintain that stance. Get a grip.Gee, and I who thought it was only because they wanted to maintain their "isolationist" policy. Oh wait, that was you who thought so..

Seriously, I have no idea what you were trying to acheive by rephrasing my point.


Look!!! It's like beating a dead horse

[spier]

What don't you get? Because the US people wanted to be isolated, the US government tried to be isolated. Hence, the US was an isolationist country. Is it really that complicated? An incomplete list of official US military interventions: http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/foabroad.htm

To me that list doesn't make the US look isolationist.

[Seiyuuki]

Ahh, so you mean that the US has benn nice all through? I recall you only entered the 2 WW after YOU were attacked. The fact that H>itler was marching through Europe before that didn't worry you much it seams.

You have to remember that the United States was an isolationist country at the time. Just remember how much aid we provided to the UK, China, and Russia before we entered the war though. Isolationist? The
US has never been isolationist except on paper. Read a book.The US people didn't want to get involved in either WW2 or WW1 until US interests were being threatened. The US government tried as hard as they could to maintain that stance. Get a grip.Gee, and I who thought it was only because they wanted to maintain their "isolationist" policy. Oh wait, that was you who thought so..

Seriously, I have no idea what you were trying to acheive by rephrasing my point.


Look!!! It's like beating a dead horse

[spier]

Seiyuuki, please visit my homepage for an indicator on how much I appreciate your input.

[Seiyuuki]

Ahh, so you mean that the US has benn nice all through? I recall you only entered the 2 WW after YOU were attacked. The fact that H>itler was marching through Europe before that didn't worry you much it seams.

You have to remember that the United States was an isolationist country at the time. Just remember how much aid we provided to the UK, China, and Russia before we entered the war though. Isolationist? The
US has never been isolationist except on paper. Read a book.The US people didn't want to get involved in either WW2 or WW1 until US interests were being threatened. The US government tried as hard as they could to maintain that stance. Get a grip.Gee, and I who thought it was only because they wanted to maintain their "isolationist" policy. Oh wait, that was you who thought so..

Seriously, I have no idea what you were trying to acheive by rephrasing my point.


Look!!! It's like beating a dead horse

[ßå$tĮТHÏ¿ð]

Either way you have to remeber the bad **** that happens in Iraq sells on tv. Nobody in the media wants to start tonights headlines with "New schools opening in Iraq" , they want to talk about choppers being shot outta the sky. They wanna talk about how dangerous the Sunni triangle is, and rather focus on the negatives instead of the positives. Some may see the pics as propoganda, that is fine your human and can make your own minds up. But when I see pics of the Iraqi people learning, working along side the coalition its alot better then seeing people dead from suicide bombers.

[WARPIG]

First, thanks for turning a thread meant to list positive actions in Iraq into a friggin cat fight among drag queens. Take your flame discussion to private message!
Second, thank you for those who are paying attention. I know the media isn't too interested in the aid, or constructive interactions between the US and Iraq.. but it happens everyday. Find them and post them here. Post everything from personnal accounts, to letters from soldiers, and those few and far between media sources. Let us know about those charities and programs that coalition forces are involved in so we can do our part to help.

[budanski]

Open letter from an American soldier
Journal Standard (http://www.journalstandard.com/articles/2003/11/09/local_news/news31.txt)

Freeport native serving in Iraq contemplates the two faces of its people

By Rod Watson, For The Journal-Standard

TIKRIT, Iraq -- I imagine most people in America have seen the images of jubilant Iraqis cheering, holding bloody pieces of American soldiers' clothing and dancing on destroyed equipment. I know most people have heard Iraqis talk about their opposition to the occupation and their belief that all American soldiers deserve to die.

And if those images are hard to handle at home, you can probably imagine how those of us in Iraq take them. It's hard for me to watch them.

But one of the main reasons I find those images so difficult to understand is they completely contradict my own experiences with the Iraqi people.

As a U.S. Army reservist serving in Iraq in a water purification platoon, I have had opportunities to interact with the local people. The best such experience was a week in May I spent living on a farm near the city of Tuz Khurmatu, about 40 miles south of the northern city of Kirkuk.

Surreal experience

In the "real world," I teach high school history and geography, and in Iraq, I've often felt like I'm in one of the National Geographic features I use as teaching aids. Setting up our water site on that farmer's field felt like that.

I imagine the experience was just as surreal for the locals when we drove up - a military convoy and a lot of soldiers with big guns entering their lives. It was an immediate social event for the men of the area (the women were busy doing all of the work). Dozens of men gathered around our trucks, squatting in their shade and speaking quietly to each other in their language as we set about the daunting task of turning an irrigation well and bean field into a water point.

The water site was meant to support an Army base a few miles away. A deal had been reached with Ahmed, the man who owned the well, in which the Army would install a new pump on his well in exchange for him allowing us to operate from his field. That's a good deal on paper, but less so if you live in a place where collaborating with Americans can be a death sentence.

After setting up our site, most of our group left, leaving four reservists alone in a tent in the heart of Sunni Iraq. Now it seems like lunacy, but things were different in May. There was a real sense that the war was over, or at least sputtering to a halt.

I wasn't worried, although I should have been. Things were not as safe as they seemed.

As it turns out, we were visited by locals after dark. But they were armed only with smiles and tea.

Ahmed and his nephew, Murad, brought the tea to our tent, about 100 yards from their home. We sat in a circle looking at each other, sipping their tea (and wondering guiltily how clean their dishes and water were). I felt like I was in the movie "Dances with Wolves," introducing myself to the natives. Ahmed and Murad did not speak English so first names were all we could accomplish, but I felt like much more was communicated. Ahmed was welcoming us to his home. It was a gesture we would not forget.

Building a relationship

The next day, Ahmed introduced us to two of his friends, but they may have been cousins or nephews - everyone seems to have huge families and be related to each other. We quickly befriended Abas and Riyadh. Abas is a former Iraqi soldier, in his late 20s, now raising a family on his cousin's farm next to Ahmed's. Riyadh is younger, perhaps 23 or 24, with a warm personality and a permanent 5 o'clock shadow. Both had learned a little English in local colleges.

Working in tandem, drawing on each other's vocabulary, we are able to speak to them, and through them, to all the locals. That made an enormous difference. Without Abas and Riyadh we would always be wondering what the locals wanted or were saying.

After work was done one of our first nights, our friends came to visit again. We sat down and let the interrogation begin.

"How long are American troops going to be here?"

"I don't know. A year or two, I guess," one of us replied.

Rapid Arabic amongst the locals followed - they had thought we were here to stay.

"What are your farmhouses in America made of? What do you grow?" They were impressed with our stocks of wood and crops.

"Can American hospitals fix my legs?" Muhammed has two shrunken legs and uses a wheel chair. I told him American hospitals were very good, but I didn't think there was much they could do for him. He seemed to understand.

They also wanted to know what each of us did for a living. They were curious about American ideas on relationships, religion and government. They wanted us to tell our guys not to drive their tanks on their roads because they were tearing them up.

And they were amazed at the attention we gave their dog. That dog loved us - he ate every time we did. The Iraqis were visibly disgusted. "Dogs very dirty," Riyadh told me. We all went to bed very late that night.

Several nights of conversations followed, along with days of working together to install the new pump and hone the Frisbee and football techniques of the locals.

We met Abas' son, Kazi. He is about 4 years old with large, inquisitive blue eyes, blond hair and tan skin. He would blend more in California than he did among the Iraqis. We gave him every piece of candy we could scrounge. I will never forget the way his eyes lit up at our gifts. His favorite was a glo-stick - the kind of technology we take for granted in America. To Kazi, it was a miracle.

Our host was a simple man. He allowed us to use his well and land because he needed a new pump and he believed in what we were doing. Saddam, who he still referred to as "our leader" because they were not allowed to say his name, was a bad man by his reckoning. Muhammed and Ahmed relayed a story about a friend of theirs who had been thrown in a jail cell the size of a coffin for three years because he tore a picture of Saddam. "He give us nothing!" Ahmed said to me while gesturing at his mud home and dilapidated equipment.

Ahmed was quick to smile and loved shaking hands with us. The only words he knew in English were "very good" and he used them a lot. It was obvious the other locals respected him, as did we after we saw how proficient he was at working on the new pump.

Security concerns

It was Ahmed who first warned us we were not safe. Through Riyadh, he told us not to be out of our tents after 10 p.m. that night. In the Army, that's determined to be a direct threat to our safety, so more security was called in for us that night - we already had a team of soldiers with an armored personnel carrier and night vision goggles.

It turned out the threat was a problem with the translation. We were not attacked. Ahmed meant to tell us never to be out after dark. Apparently, there were threats coming from people in the village, Ba'athists who did not like us there. Ahmed was worried for our safety.

"Very bad men in village," Abas would say. "Long beards, dangerous. False men."

These people frequented the hangout spots in the village nearby, saying it wasn't right for us to be there and something should be done about us. We were no longer safe outside the perimeter of an Army base.

More locals showed up to our water site every day, many of whom we did not know. Ahmed tried to keep them away, but they kept flooding in. Several times an Iraqi would fill up a big trailer with water from our pumps, then come back an hour later to fill up again.

"They could not use that much water so fast. They are watching you," Riyadh told us.

We began to get a little nervous. Then word came the base we were supporting was moving to Kirkuk, and we had to go with it. Our time in Ahmed's field was up.

Traditional goodbye

We only knew our Iraqi friends for a little over a week, but the goodbye was still difficult for all of us. Abas and Riyadh hung out all day while we packed our gear. Riyadh gave me a lesson on the history of Islam and the Shi'ite-Sunni schism. His English had vastly improved in a week.

When everything was packed and we were ready to go, we took some final pictures together, exchanged addresses and tried to shake hands farewell.

"In my country, we kiss goodbye," Abas told us.

One of our soldiers spoke what we were all thinking. "In our country, we hug," he said, visibly uncomfortable with kissing another man on the cheek.

"You are not in your country," Abas reminded him as we all laughed, and the cheek-kissing commenced.

I was choked up as we drove away that day. I remember them all squatting in the suddenly empty field watching us leave. Ahmed with a big, sad smile on his face. Kazi, leaning on his father with a face full of Skittles. The dog didn't make it to the party - he was busy working.

It was obvious by looking at them that our visit had changed their lives as much as it had ours.

Lessons learned

So how do I fit people like that into the images of Iraqis rejoicing that another American soldier will never get to see his or her family again? The answer is that I cannot, but I don't have to.

Iraq, like every place in the world, is full of good and bad people. We, as Americans, would not like to be judged by images of the Los Angeles riots or serial killer murder trials or the sniper shootings. Just because Americans committed those acts doesn't mean all Americans are like that.

In Iraq, it is the same. The difference is that Iraqis are very heavily armed and very badly educated. Uneducated people are very easily convinced that the invading "infidel" army is evil and should be killed. They become what Abas would call "false men." And these false men have ready access to mortar rounds, RPGs, AK-47s and other tools to kill and maim Americans.

Compound that with the growing disillusionment in this country toward our troops and the expanding influence of outside terrorists, and you get jubilant Iraqis dancing on burned out humvees.

Does the escalation of violence here in Iraq mean we should back out? I don't think so. My opinion matters very little. As a soldier here, I do what I'm told, but I know this country will descend into chaos if we leave now.

And when I think about my friends back at Ahmed's field, when I think about how gentle Abas is with his son, I know that we owe it to those people to find a way to fix this situation. Without even thinking broadly enough to contemplate whether our nation's prestige abroad can handle failure here, I can make that decision.

Kazi deserves a future.

Sgt. Rod Watson is a 1997 graduate of Freeport High School and 2002 graduate of Northern Illinois University. He is currently stationed in Tikrit, Iraq and is in the seventh month of his tour of duty there.