"He called me from Iraq: ’I have no idea what we’re doing here, mom.’

Interview with Nadia McCaffrey, member of the BRussells Tribunal Advisory Committee (Inge Van de Merlen - May 18 2005)

May 18, 2005

September 12, 2001: Day 1 after the attacks on the WTC towers in the US. 34-year-old Patrick McCaffrey, husband and father of two, was upset enough to join the Californian National Guard. The National Guard is usually deployed in case of disasters or other emergency situations within the United States. A few days after 9/11 the Bush administration, without much warning, changed the regulations so that Guard units could be sent to Iraq. Patrick was killed on June 22, 2004 and in the record is registered as ‘casualty #848’. "My son never thought he’d find himself in the war zone," his mother Nadia McCaffrey said. Since his death she has been traveling around the world to try to convince people of the insanity of the war in Iraq.

How did Patrick come to be deployed in Iraq?

Before my son was sent to Iraq, he was a manager of a California based company. The 9/11 attacks shocked him so much that he decided the next day to join the National Guard, which is meant to operate in case of local disasters and emergencies. Patrick enlisted as a weekend soldier in a National Guard unit with the principal task of providing engineering support to combat forces and in homeland crises like terrorist attacks or natural disasters.

He wanted to be able to help people in case a new disaster hit America. But he never expected to be sent overseas to a war zone. His unit hadn’t been deployed abroad since the Second World War.

Only a few days after 9/11, Bush, without much debate, changed the regulation. So Patrick became the first soldier of the California National Guard’s 579th Engineer Battalion, to die in Iraq. In the record he’s now registered as "casualty #848".

Only a very short time before he left he understood that the possibility of being sent to Iraq was very real. Before that, he expected to be deployed in Utah to guard a nuclear power plant.

What was his reaction when he learnt that he was being sent to Iraq?

He became very somber. Patrick was always a very happy person, very cheerful - actually, he was smiling all the time. After he heard the news, his smile was gone. He told me about his deployment when we were alone. He said that he didn’t want to go, but he had no choice. He had made a commitment. Even though the law had been changed, he felt bound to do his duty. In the time prior to his departure he expressed the hope that he could at least do something good in Iraq - something to help the people. I asked him what he would do if, in self defense or to protect someone else, he had to take somebody else’s life. He could never answer that question.

Recently, we’ve received more details about the circumstances of how he died. Although already wounded, Patrick tried to shield another soldier, who was killed with him. He didn’t have time to return fire like they thought at first. The sound of an M-16 had been heard, and Patrick carried an M-16, but further investigation has shown that it was a third soldier, who survived the ambush, that fired in the air to call for help.

How did you react to the news of his deployment?

I had a very bad feeling within, you know, like a mother can have. I was speechless. I really didn’t know what to say. I didn’t want to hurt him. I wanted to respect him. But I’ve been a pacifist all my life, and Patrick knew this. He was standing up for his country, but he never supported the war itself.

Did the fact that your son would be sent to Iraq change your view on the war?

No. All my life I have condemned war, like Vietnam and other wars. I was born in France shortly after World War II, in 1945. I lived in the aftermath of it. During that war my grandparents helped Jews to hide from and to escape the nazis. I remember an image from the time I was 3 years old. A woman, who didn’t speak French lived with us and she had no place to go. She took care of me and helped around the house. She always baked bread in a large brick oven. Suddenly, one day she was gone. Apparently, she was a Jewish refugee from Poland.

When a war officially ends, it still isn’t over. After 1945, the war continued for the people who were it’s victims. Everything had been reduced to rubble, families were torn apart. After a war you don’t just resume life as if nothing has happened. In general, Americans today aren’t aware of this. They haven’t had a war on their own soil since the Civil War in the 19th century, so Americans can’t understand what war really means.

What did Patrick tell you about the war in Iraq during his deployment? What were his impressions?

He was disgusted about it. It only took one week for him to understand what this war is about. He called home every day when he was there and he told me: “I have no idea what we’re doing here, mom. I don’t know why we’re here. We’re not helping anyone - there’s no rebuilding. The Iraqis don’t want us here, they want us out of here.” Patrick understood very soon what the war was about. He saw things the way they were.

How did he handle the situation?

It was very difficult for him. Patrick wasn’t a military person - that wasn’t his character. He was always for helping the underdog, the weak and vulnerable. After he recognized the true nature of the war, he wanted to use his presence there in the best way he could. So he turned to the Iraqi children and tried to help them. Patrick always loved children very much. He regularly asked us to send packages with candies and toys for the children and he collected the extra food and water rations from the soldiers to distribute among the children. Actually, it was forbidden for the soldiers to offer the children gifts, but Patrick did it anyway.

And he was a refuge to the other soldiers, kind of a father figure for the younger guys. When, for example one of them got a bad report, Patrick defended him. So he was a protector for the other soldiers and for Iraqi children during his time in Iraq. Everyone who knew him there understood that. He knew how to deal gently with people, because he loved people. Patrick knew he could make a difference.

How did his experiences there influence your view on the war?

My aversion against the war grew stronger, it intensified. I wanted very badly for this war to stop.

Can you describe your feelings the moment that you learned about Patrick’s death?

When I heard he was killed my life came to a halt. I stopped everything that I was occupied with before. I’m the founder of a non-profit organization, ‘Changing the Face of Life’. For twenty years I have been volunteering to bring a caring presence to the bedside of the terminally ill, and to give comfort and support to their families and friends. I have trained more than a thousand people in the San Francisco Bay area for this work. When I heard about Patrick’s death, I immediately became an anti-war activist. Now I’m doing everything that lies within my power to stop this war. The bloodshed must stop. When Patrick’s coffin arrived in Sacramento, I invited the media. The Bush administration had a ban on media presence at the arrival of fallen soldiers, but I invited them to witness his homecoming. I became the mother who defied the Bush administration. America can no longer ignore the war in Iraq and its consequences. I also had a very strong desire to go to Iraq myself. I wanted to stand in the place where Patrick died. I had this very strong feeling to do something.

In what way has your son’s death influenced your position towards the American government?

I have never been a Republican. I’m a Democrat. But this government, I don’t even recognize it as Republican. This government represents nothing of America, because America has much higher values. But today’s America is kept in the dark. The people aren’t informed, they are isolated and controlled by the means of fear. This isn’t our constitution that was written by the people and for the people in those days long ago. The Bush administration doesn’t respect our constitutional rights anymore. The ‘Patriot Act’, through which people can be detained without any reason and for an indefinite period, is a clear example of that.

What are your most important motives to be active in the anti-war movement?

Both Patrick’s death and the war itself drive me to do something. I have opposed every war, always. But with this war it became stronger. I won’t stop anymore, never. I also believe that the road to end the war goes from people to people, and from mother to mother, not through the government. For mothers especially there is a very important task in the struggle against the war. What we need is a worldwide alliance against the war. We, the people, have to unite our powers. To me, human rights are the highest priority.

What concrete actions do you take within the anti-war movement?

I reach out and I speak endlessly to the public. I try to touch people. I tell them about the hellish horror that war brings to their door. The war needs to have a personal face. I show people how they can make a difference, how to become a voice. We, the people, are the government! Because of my intensive way of speaking I reach a lot of the media. When Patrick returned home his story was spread around the world. His life story can be found in two books: it is his message of peace, love for one another, caring, family values, patriotism, courage, strength and justice for all.

Do I speak about my son? You bet I do!...And I will until I drop. A professor at the University of California, Berkeley is writing a book about Patrick and me. People tell me sometimes that I deal differently with the death of my son than other parents. And I’m about to set up an organization to provide aid to women and children who are the victims of war and live under occupation in the Middle East. I mainly try to deal in a positive, constructive way with my personal tragedy.

Is there a message you want to address to the European people? What, in your opinion, is most important in their struggle against the war?

The protests must grow much stronger and louder. The American people need the Europeans. Everyone should understand that our common future is at stake. It isn’t only about the Iraqis. The war doesn’t stop in Iraq or in the Middle East. In the end it will touch all of us.

http://www.uruknet.info/?p=11836

http://www.brusselstribunal.org/