OFF TOPIC-OFF TOPIC
Found this on rant and rave. I found it interesting and hope others will also.
This letter was written by Captain Jim Holder currently stationed in Iraq
OPEN LETTER TO FIRST LUTHERAN CHURCH OF RICHMOND BEACH
It has been a while since I have written to my friends at First Lutheran
Church about what's really going on here in Iraq. The news you watch on TV
is exaggerated, sensationalized and selective. Good news doesn't sell.
The stuff you don't hear about on CNN? Let's start with Electrical Power
production in Iraq. The day after the war was declared over, there was
nearly 0 power being generated in Iraq. 45 days later, in a partnership
between the Army, the Iraqi people and some private companies, there are now
3200 mega watts (Mw) of power being produced daily, 1/3 of the total
national potential of 8000 Mw. Downed power lines (big stuff, 400 Kilovolt
(Kv) and 132 Kv) are being repaired and are about 70% complete.
Then there is water purification. In central Iraq between Baghdad and Mosul,
home of the 4th Infantry Division, water treatment was spotty at best. The
facilities existed, but the controls were never implemented. Simple
chemicals like Chlorine for purification and Alum (Aluminum Sulfate) for
sediment settling (the Tigris River is about as clear as
the Mississippi River) were in very short supply or not used at all. When
chlorine was used, it was metered by the scientific method of guessing.
So some people got pool water to drink and some people got water with lots
of little things floating around in it. We are slowly but surely solving
that. Contracts for repairs to facilities that are only 50% or less
operational are being let, chemicals are being delivered, although we don't
have the metering problem solved yet (...but again, it's only been 45 days).
How about oil and fuel? Well the war was all about oil wasn't it? You bet it
was. It was all about oil for the Iraqi people! They have no other income,
they produce nothing else. Oil is 95% of the Iraqi GNP. For this nation to
survive, it MUST sell oil.
The Refinery at Bayji is at 75% of capacity producing gasoline. The crude
pipeline between Kirkuk (Oil Central) and Bayji will be repaired by tomorrow
(2 June). LPG, what all Iraqi's use to cook and heat with, is at 103% of
normal production and WE, the US ARMY, are insuring it is being distributed
FAIRLY to ALL Iraqi's.
You have to remember that only 3 months ago, ALL these things were used by
the Sadam regime as weapons against the population to keep them in line. If
your town misbehaved, gasoline shipments stopped, LPG pipelines and trucks
stopped, Water was turned off, power was turned off.
Now, until exports start, every drop of gasoline produced goes to the Iraqi
people. Crude oil is being stored and the country is at 75% capacity right
now. They need to export or stop pumping soon, ...so thank the UN for the
delay.
ALL LPG goes to the Iraqi people EVERYWHERE. Water is being purified as best
it can be, but at least it's running all the time to everyone.
Are we still getting shot at? Yep
Are American Soldiers still dying? Yep, about 1 a day from my out fit, the
4th Infantry Division, most in accidents, but dead is dead.
If we are doing all this for the Iraqi's, why are they shooting at us?
The general Iraqi population isn't shooting at us. There are still bad guys,
who won't let go of the old regime. They are Ba'ath party members (Read Nazi
Party, but not as nice) who have known nothing but and supported nothing but
the regime all of their lives. These are the thugs for the regime that
caused many to disappear in the night. They have no other skills. At least
the Nazis had jobs and a semblance of a national
infrastructure that they could go back to after the war, ...as plumbers,
managers, engineers, etc., ...these people have no skills but terror. They
are simply applying their skills. ...and we are applying ours.
There is no Christian way to say this, ..but they must be eliminated and we
are doing so with all the efficiency we can muster. Our troops are shot at
literally everyday by small arms and Rocket Propelled Grenades (RPGs). We
respond. 100% of the time, the Ba'ath party guys come out with the short
end of the stick.
The most amazing thing to me is that they don't realize that if they stopped
shooting at us, we would focus on fixing things more quickly and then leave
back to the land of the Big PX. The more they shoot at us, the longer we
will have to stay.
Lastly, all of you please realize that 90% of the damage you see on TV was
caused by Iraqi's, NOT by us adn not by the war. Sure we took out a few
bridges from military necessity, we took out a few power and phone lines to
disrupt communications, sure we drilled a few palaces and government
headquarters buildings with 2000 lb. laser guided bombs (I work 100 yards
from where two hit the Tikrit Palace), he had plenty to spare. But, ANY
damage you see to schools, hospitals, power generation facilities,
refineries, pipelines, was ALL caused either by the Iraqi Army in its death
throes or from much of the Iraqi civilians looting the places.
Could we have prevented it? Nope.
We can and do now, but 45 days ago the average soldier was fighting for his
own survival and trying to get to his objectives as fast as possible. He was
lucky to know what town he was in much less be informed enough to know who
owned what or have the power to stop a 1,000 people from looting and burning
a building by himself.
The United States and our allies, especially Great Britain, are doing a very
noble thing here. We stuck our necks out on the world's chopping block to
free an entire people from the grip of a horrible terror that was beyond
belief.
I've already talked the weapons of mass destruction thing to death,
...bottom line, who cares? This country was one big conventional weapons
ammo dump anyway. We have probably destroyed more weapons and ammo in the
last 30 days than the US Army has ever fired in the last 30 years (Remember,
this is a country the size of Texas), so drop the WMD argument as the reason
we came here, ....if we find it GREAT, if we don't, SO WHAT?
I'm living in a "guest palace" on a 500 acre palace compound with 20 palaces
with like facilities built in half a dozen towns all over Iraq that were
built for one man. Drive down the street and out into the countryside 5
miles away like I have and see all the families of 10 or more, all living in
mud huts and herding the two dozen sheep on which
their very existence depends, ...then tell me why you think we are here.
WMD? ...important, ..have to find 'em wherever they may be (...in Syria?),
but not OUR real motivator. Don't let it be yours either.
Respectfully,
ERIC RYDBOM MAJOR, ENGINEER Deputy Division Engineer 4th Infantry Division
RICK
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