Irak'tan Mektup Var!

Irak ta, Ordu da degil ama A.B.D. Disisleri Bakanliginin sozlesmeli oldugu sivil bir kurulusta calisan, ismini vermek istemedigim bir arkadasimin gonderdigi son mektup savasin haberlerde duyamadigimiz baska bir yonunu gosteriyorken ayni zamanda Irak ta ki durumu ve A.B.D. nin icinde bulundugu ikilemi cok guzel ozetliyor. Bazi bolumlerini benim koyulastirdigim, ingilizce orijinalinde mektup aynen soyle:

"On a recent helo out to the Western cities of Husaybah and Al-Qa'im (the former of which is within sight of the hills of Syria), I made the acquaintance of a Lieutenant Colonel who works in my building at Camp Fallujah. He is one of only two military historians in theater, and flies around the AO (Area of Operations) to conduct interviews with Marines of every rank. He wields a digital voice recorder, transcribes their interviews, and his work will soon end up in a Marine Corps Archive.

He just called me over to listen to the account of a flight medic, about what happened the day I flew out of Al-Qa'im last week:

A few Marines walked into a courtyard when insurgents detonated a propane-tank IED. At least two were immediately killed. The medics were called from Camp Al-Qa'im, but this would take at least a few minutes.

As more and more Marines frantically tried to remove the dead from the courtyard, grenades and gunfire rained in from above. "We landed behind a Tiger tank, a typical war situation. The gunner was melting his .50 cal into the house. We ran up and got one Marine, who had been shot in the head and was barely breathing.

"After we loaded him up, I went back and got another kid who had been shot twice in the torso. I did mouth-to-mouth but he wasn't very responsive.

"A third kid was lying on the ground, with a tourniquet around his leg. He was conscious as we loaded him up. By this time, a crowded of wounded Marines were yelling at me to let them on board the chopper. I told them another one was coming right away and we pulled out."

As I waited for my own chopper, I observed the final chapter of this medic's stories, witnessing medic Black Hawks, Cobras, and Apaches flit to and from Al-Qa'im all morning.

I listened quietly as the recording played on.

"One guy we knew wouldn't make it, had an RPG (rocket-propelled grenade) launched into his back. It entered right around the base of his neck and went under his flak. We flew him back to Al-Qa'im, and the surgeon said he couldn't operate until the RPG was removed."

They left the vest on and called EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal), who removed the RPG from the Marine's back. The kid died in the operation. The other with the tourniquet lost his leg. In all, five died and seventeen were wounded in the courtyard that morning.

For anyone with the illusion that, somewhere in the fray that has enveloped every inch of real estate of this war, responsible or realistic decisions are being made, last week's Congressional antics should be enough to snap you into sobriety. This no longer concerns justness, or saving lives, futures, or treasure. It is about '06, '08, and where you intend to direct your cash and vote on those important election days. I'd like to be more optimistic than that, but still no credible plans are appearing over here as $18.4 billion taxpayer dollars worth of controversial projects wind down. Yesterday, residents of Baghdad received a total of five hours of electricity.

Increasingly, politicians sweep through Fallujah and pose for campaign literature. For the eleven months that I've been in Iraq, I've never heard of someone from Washington spending more than forty-eight hours in country. Before, they tried to associate themselves with major projects, such as multi-million dollar power or water treatment plants. Now visits are more frequently oriented towards visiting the military.

George Bush tells us that we can't leave now, that the steady forces of instability caused by flexed ethnic tensions can only be quelled by keeping our military there. Or, as Harold Meyerson recently formulated it, "We stay to mitigate the consequences of our coming."

As I write this, I can hear the Howitzers flinging out artillery somewhere miles away. It is a ghastly and close sound. About a minute later, the sound of the explosion replies back. Next week a Marine officer will have to meet with an angry Iraqi demanding compensation.

On this Thanksgiving, Medics must continue to race to the scene, Marines and soldiers must continue to digest their daily feast of shrapnel, mortars, IEDs, and 7.62mm rounds.

Though we are ending our thirty-first month in Iraq, the current administration is treating our discontent with outlandishly tired concepts. Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori doesn't suffice any more for the nineteen-year-old with an RPG in his back, waiting for someone to make a decision."

A.B.D. de hem yurticinde hem de Irak taki Amerikalılar arasinda bir bıkkınlık hakim ve gerekli gorduklerinden bir gun daha fazla Irak ta kalmayacaklari kesin. Bir sonraki post da da gostermeye calısacagım gibi, Turkiye icin ise asil dram A.B.D. nin Irak tan cekilmesinden sonra baslayacak.