Iraq, the reality on the ground

Today the blogosphere is filled with rants about Conscientious Objector Aidan Delgado and the outrageous claims he has made about how the US military treats Iraqi citizens. Excellent blogs like Powerline and Blackfive are all over the story, and will undoubtedly come up with the truth of the story (which I believe will prove Delgado to be a liar). I want to approach the story from a different angle, and talk about the truth about how the US military, the Marines in particular, treat the Iraqi people.

My son spent 7 months in one of the worst cities in Iraq, Husaybah. Husaybah made the news in a big way three weeks ago when al Qaeda suicide bombers attacked Camp Gannon with three massive suicide bombs (see the terrorists video of the attack here). But the Marines in Husaybah always showed restraint when dealing with the Iraqis who live and work there. In fact, the case could be made that marines were injured because they used so much restraint and employed such stringent Rules of Engagement.

Tonight I offer proof that Delgado's version is wrong. A friend of mine gave me photos taken during the battle for Fallujah in November 2004. What we see are photos like this which show incredible restraint in taking a terrorist prisoner (look at the others, here, here, and here). There is no abusing him, even though he very likely was trying to kill these marines just minutes or hours earlier. Then there are photos like these, here and here, where a navy corpsman is treating a wounded terrorist. It's very likely that wounded marines are sitting very close to this action, watching the corpsman patch up the guy who just shot marines. The best is yet to come. The marines of 3/1 came upon many innocent civilians during the battle. After days of little rest and non-stop fighting, they came upon this particular family, check this one, this one and this one too. Notice the lack of menfolk? All the men were likely off killing marines.Civilians in Iraq are told that US marines must kill their mothers to become marines. Don't they look so frightened?

33 marines from 3/1 died during the 2 week long battle in Fallujah, yet they treated the Iraqis in Fallujah with incredible decency.

The protection women and children, the caring for injured enemy soldiers (terrorists), the decent capture of prisoners are really what the US military is all about