We Gotta Get Out Of This Place:Insider Says Troops Want Out of Iraq Now

Nov 27, 2005 by egrass, Stevegilliard.blogspot.com [Excerpt]

I’m back from Thanksgiving with my wife’s family and I’ve got some first-hand feedback from the troops on Iraq, leaving Iraq, and Murtha.

You see, my wife is a former military officer and her brother is an active-duty Major, decorated Army Ranger, and West Point graduate with more than 15 years in and about to ship out to Afghanistan. My wife is a good liberal on military issues, while my brother-in-law has always been a thoughtful and nice guy, but very conservative, especially on military issues. We’ve always gotten along well and been very respectful of each other, but totally disagreed on Republicans and military issues.

My brother-in-law thinks that Murtha is 100% right and that we should pull back in Iraq to forward operating bases in Kuwait, if not leave entirely. Even more interesting, my brother-in-law says that ALL of his officer friends in the 10th Mountain (a real front-line outfit) and around the military agree as well.

My brother-in-law is a gregarious, well-connected guy and literally has hundreds of well placed friends at the rank of Major and above. He says that ALL of his military friends feel Iraq is a "mistake" and a "meatgrinder" that serves no purpose anymore if it ever did.

They would all be perfectly willing to serve and even die there if some good might come of it, but they all see that it makes no sense at this point. (My brother-in-law is no pacifist. He fought in Somalia and Haiti and killed several people there. He thought both missions were important and the right thing to do).

Apparently, one key thing that has really pissed off my brother-in-law and his friends is that young guys like them are being thrown into the position of making foreign policy on the ground.

He said that his buddies around his level are being given entire towns to run in Iraq and essentially told to make up what to do. From what he hears, there basically is no overall strategy, just a bunch of LTs, CPTs, and Majors making it up as they go.

My brother-in-law laughed off as ludicrous the claim that troops are somehow undercut by people debating the usefulness of their mission and questioning whether to pull out of Iraq. I told him the liberal comment (I think by Atrios) that if liberals really didn’t support the troops they would lie the country into a war, send troops to war without proper equipment, and then keep them there to die for no apparent reason. He got a kick out of that and said he would tell some of his buddies.

I told my brother-in-law that I regularly read message boards like Kos and others populated by liberals and that the vast majority of people here (and elsewhere) wish him all the best in his mission in Afghanistan and a safe and speedy trip home. He has a wife and two young daughters. Your prayers will be appreciated.