Iraq Soldiers

When thinking of Iraq soldiers we probably recall seeing pictures of them waving their white underwear at Americans during the First Gulf War.

But we have to remember these soldiers were pounded for days by American air power and had no food and water for days.

Iraq soldiers are being trained to take the place of American soldiers. It is a painfully, slow process. One used to be a Lt. Colonel in the Air Force. His name was Mr. Mohammad. Sometimes he would tell us a few stories about the way things worked in Saddam’s military. He mentioned some of the sorties he flew over Iran.

One time he fired some missiles at some Iranian tanks. As he was pulling out of his attack run, a surface to air missile was fired at him. He had to do some quick maneuvers to avoid being hit. But his luck did not hold out. The missile exploded on his right side and sent shrapnel into the wing, destroying it.

He was able to bail out. He was lucky that he was able to parachute out and land in Iraq. He was shaken up some but not injured. He said it was probably an American made missile and now here he was working for the Americans.

He was doing minimal labor for us, but it did not seem to bother him. He often said that when true peace comes he would like to have us over to his house for a visit to meet some more former Iraq soldiers and enjoy some Iraqi hospitality.

Mr. Mohammad was a pilot during the Gulf War, but Saddam hid the planes and had many of his pilots stationed in Syria to keep them safe. Otherwise he might have had to go up against the American pilots and he was fairly certain that he would not be here today.

TQ had some of Saddam’s bombers on review. I walked up to them and looked them over. They were ruined because Saddam buried them in the sand to hide them from the Coalition forces.

Mr. Mohammad was a very nice man. He had a son who worked for me at the warehouse. He was a hard worker and I never had any problems out of him. But one day his son got into a fight with another one of the workers so I had to fire him. There was a no tolerance policy for fighting.

But one day Mr. Mohammad did not show up for work. We heard from his boss that the threats were getting harsher and more frequent against him and his family so Mr. Mohammad decided that it was time to stay home.

I am sure we have all seen pictures of the Iraqi men out protesting the Americans in Iraq. Mr. Mohammad told us that many of those do not want to protest the Americans. They are glad that American has come and removed Saddam since he was a really cruel person.

However, if they do not get out and protest and at least act like they are against the Americans, then their names will be turned over to insurgents who will come and threaten them and even kill them. Some of their daughters have even been taken and raped.

Mr. Mohammad told us that the everyday Iraqi has three requests that will keep them content. They want a job that pays at least $200 a month since they can live very well on $200 a month. Even as an Iraq soldier, the military men do not get paid this much a month.

They want electricity. Electricity was sparse back in 2004 but today more and more power grids are coming online so that more and more Iraqis are getting electricity 24 hours a day.

Last but not least Mr. Mohammad told me they want to live in peace. They want to be able to choose their own religion. They want to be able to be Muslim, Christian or nothing. They do not want to be a part of the Extremism going on.

Despite what we see on TV, the Iraqi people are glad the United States deposed Saddam Hussein. People lived in fear under Saddam. His Iraq soldiers tortured, raped and killed at will. And we may never know the true numbers, but Saddam killed many more Iraqis than the current violence has.

Thank you for your visit.

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