Tuesday, October 2, 2007

War, what is it good for, absolutely nothing

Danny ships out to Iraq tonight, to join the 3rd Brigade in Kirkuk. He's convinced that this is a fairly safe area, but that's not what the news says:

http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSKHA243542

KIRKUK, Iraq, Oct 2 (Reuters) - Abu Mohammed, a 60-year-old Iraqi Arab, moved to the oil-producing city of Kirkuk 28 years ago because of incentives that included a home offered by Saddam Hussein's Arab nationalist government. But times have changed in Kirkuk, a mixing pot of Kurds, Arabs, Assyrians, Turkmen and Armenians 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad which is potentially Iraq's next flashpoint.


Gads, what's "safe" in that cauldron anyway? I'm sick to my stomach every time I think about it. Since I haven't been upset enough, I decided to peruse this site, listing all casualties in Iraq:

http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2003/iraq/forces/casualties/2007.02.html

The only good thing about it - I didn't see anyone from 3rd Brigade and only one casualty in Kirkuk. What the hell is "a non-combat related incident"? It seems like there's a hell of a lot of those, especially for a war zone. Who knows how any of this is categorized? It's a crazy business.

I don't know how I'll last for 15 months. I just pray that it doesn't ruin him completely, assuming he comes back in approximately one piece. Such a waste. All I can think about is the stories I've read in Newsweek - the soldiers who spend all day shouting "Shut the fuck up" to Iraqis; the guy who said, "It's an easy job, you just drive around all day, waiting to get shot at. But you have to hate Arabs."

I feel more mad than sad right now, though I've been on the verge of tears all week. We took him to dinner at TRH last night (along with his lovely friend Michael, safely in college at Georgia Tech), and it's all I could do not to lean across the table and slap him. Stupid boy! Who volunteers for a bloody, mindless lost cause? Where's your sense of self-preservation? Goddammit.

No comments: