A View Of Iraq From A Soldier

Speech to the "Out of Iraq" Congressional Caucus on July 19, 2005

By John Bruhns

Click here to watch Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur, read this letter into the congressional record

08/03/05 "ICH" -- -- I am a concerned veteran of the Iraq War. I am not an expert on the vast and
wide range of issues throughout the political spectrum, but I can offer some first hand experience of
the war in Iraq through the eyes of a soldier. My view of the situation in Iraq will differ from what the
American People are being told by the Bush Administration. The purpose of this message is to voice
my concern that we were misled into war and continue to be misled about the situation! in Iraq every
day. My opinions on this matter come from what I witnessed in Iraq personally.

George Bush and his political advisors have been successful in presenting a false image to the
American people that Saddam Hussein was an "imminent" threat to the security of the United States.
We were told that there was overwhelming evidence that Saddam Hussein possessed a massive WMD
program, and some members of the Bush Administration even hinted that Saddam may have been
involved in the 9/11 attacks.

We now know most of the information given to us by the current Administration concerning Iraq, if
not all the information, was false. This was information given to the American people to justify a war.
The information about weapons of mass destruction and a link to Osama Bin Laden scared the
American people into supporting the war in Iraq. They presented an atmosphere of intimidation that
suggested if we did not act immediately there was the possibility of another ! attack. Bush said himself
that we do not want the proof or the smoking gun to come in the form of a "mushroom cloud." Donald
Rumsfeld said, "We know where the weapons are."

After 9/11, comments like this proved to be a successful scare tactic to use on the American People to
rally support for the invasion. Members of the Bush Administration created an image of "wine and
roses" in terms of the aftermath of the war. Vice-President Dick Cheney said American troops would
be greeted as "liberators." And there was a false perception created that we would go into Iraq and
implement a democratic government and it would be over more sooner than later. The White House
also expressed confidence that the alleged WMD program would be found once we invaded.

I participated in the invasion, stayed in Iraq for a year afterward, and what I witnessed was the total
opposite of what President Bush and his Administration stated to the American People.

The invasion was very confusing, and so was the period of time I spent in Iraq afterward. At first it did
seem as if some of the Iraqi people were happy to be rid of Saddam Hussein. But that was only for a
short period of time. Shortly after Saddam's regime fell, the Shiite Muslims in Iraq conducted a
pilgrimage to Karbala, a pilgrimage prohibited by Saddam while he was in power. As I witnessed the !
Shiite pilgrimage, which was a new freedom that we provided to them, they used the pilgrimage to
protest our presence in their country. I watched as they beat themselves over the head with sticks until
they bled, and screamed at us in anger to leave their country. Some even carried signs that stated, "No

1
Saddam, No America." These were people that Saddam oppressed; they were his enemies. To me, it
seemed they hated us more than him.

At that moment I knew it was going to be a very long deployment. I realized that I was not being
greeted as a liberator. I became overwhelmed with fear because I felt I never would be viewed that
way by the Iraqi people. As a soldier this concerned me. Because if they did not view me as a
liberator, then what did they view me as? I felt that they viewed me as foreign occupier of their land.
That led me to believe very early on that I was going to have a fight on my hands.

During my year in Iraq I had many altercations with the so-called "insurgency." I found the insurgency
I saw to be quite different from the insurgency described to the American people by the Bush
Administration, the media, and other supporters of the war. There is no doubt in my mind there are
foreigners from other surrounding countries in Iraq. Anyone in the Middle East who hates America
now has the opportunity to kill Americans because there are roughly 140,000 US troops in Iraq. But
the bulk of the insurgency I faced was primarily the people of Iraq who were attacking us as a reaction
to what they felt was an occupation of their country.

I was engaged actively in urban combat in the Abu Ghraib area west of Baghdad. Many of the people
who were attacking me were the poor people of Iraq. They were definitely not members of Al Qaeda,
left over Baath Party members, and they were not former members of Saddam's regime. They were
just your average Iraqi civilian who wanted us out of their country.

On October 31st, 2003, the people of Abu Ghraib organized a large uprising against us. They launched
a massive assault on our compound in the area. We were attacked with AK-47 machine guns, RPGs
and mortars. Thousands of people took to the streets to attack us. As the riot unfolded before my eyes,
I realized these were just the people who lived there. There were men, women, and children
participating. Some of the Iraqi protesters were even carrying pictures of Saddam Hussein. My
battalion fought back with everything we had and eventually shut down the uprising.

So while President Bush speaks of freedom and liberation of the Iraqi people, I find his statements are
not credible after witnessing events such as these. During the violence that day I felt so much fear
throughout my entire body. I remember going home that night and praying to God, thanking him that I
was still alive. A few months earlier President Bush made the statement, "Bring it on" when referring
to the attacks on Americans by the insurgency. To me, that felt like a personal invitation to the
insurgents to attack me and my friends who desperately wanted to make it home alive.

I did my job well in Iraq. During the deployment, my superiors promoted me to the rank of sergeant. I
was made a rifle team leader and was put in charge of other soldiers when we carried out missions.

My time as a Team Leader in Iraq was temporarily interrupted when I was sent to the "Green Zone" in
Baghdad to train the Iraqi army. I was more than happy to do it because we were being told that in
order for us to get out of Iraq completely the Iraqi military would have to be able to take over all
security operations. The training of the Iraqi Army became a huge concern of mine. During the time I
trained! them, their basic training was only one week long. We showed them some basic drill and
ceremony such as marching and saluting. When it came time for weapons training, we gave each Iraqi
recruit an AK-47 and just let them shoot it. They did not even have to qualify by hitting a target. All

2
they had to do was pull the trigger. I was instructed by my superiors to stand directly behind them with
caution while they were shooting just in case they tried to turn the weapon on us so we could stop
them.

Once they graduated from basic training, the Iraqi soldiers in a way became part of our battalion and
we would take them on missions with us. But we never let them know where we were going, because
we were afraid some of them might tip off the insurgency that we were coming and we would walk
directly into an ambush. When they would get into formation prior to the missions we made them a
part of, they would cover their faces so the people of their communities did not identify them as being
affiliated with the American troops.

Not that long ago President Bush made a statement at Fort Bragg when he addressed the nation about
the war in Iraq. He said we would "stand down" when the Iraqi military is ready to "stand up." My
experience with the new Iraqi military tells me we won't be coming home for a long time if that's the
case.

I left Iraq on February 27, 2004 and I acknowledge a lot may have changed since then, but I find it
hard to believe the Iraqi people are any happier now than they were when was I was there. I remember
the day I left there were hundreds of Iraqis in the streets outside the compound that I lived in. They
watched as we moved out to the Baghdad Airport to finally go home. The Iraqis cheered, clapped, and
shouted with joy as we were le! aving. As a soldier, that hurt me inside because I thought I was
supposed to be fighting for their freedom. I saw many people die for that cause, but that is not how the
Iraqi people looked at it. They viewed me as a foreign occupier and many of the people of Iraq may
have even preferred Saddam to the American soldiers. I feel this way because of the consistent attacks
on me and my fellow soldiers by the Iraqi people, who felt they were fighting for their homeland. To
us the mission turned into a quest for survival.

I wish I could provide an answer to this mess. I wish I knew of a realistic way to get our troops home.
But we are very limited in our options in my opinion. If we pull out immediately, it's likely the Iraqi
security forces will not be able to provide stability on their own. In that event, the new Iraqi
government could possibly be overthrown. The other option would be to reduce our troop numbers
and have a gradual pullout. That is very risky because it seems that even with the current number of
troops the violence still continues. With a significant troop reduction, there is a strong possibility the
violence and attacks on US and coalition forces could escalate and get even worse. In my opinion, that
is more of a certainty.

And then there is the option that President Bush brings to the table which is to "Stay the Course." That
means more years of bloodshed and a lot more lives to be lost. Also, it will aggravate the growing
opposition to the US presence in Iraq throughout the region and that could very well recruit more
extremists to join terror organizations that will infiltrate into Iraq and kill more US troops.

So it does not seem to me we have a realistic solution, and that frightens me. It has become very
obvious that we have a serious dilemma that needs to be resolved as soon as possible to end the
ongoing violence in Iraq. But how do we end it is the question?

We must always support the troops. If there were a situation in which the United States is attacked

3
again by a legitimate enemy, they are the people who are going to risk their lives to protect us and our
freedom. In my opinion, the best way to support them now is to bring them home with the honor and
respect they deserve.

In closing, I ask that we never forget why this war started. The Bush Administration cried weapons of
mass destruction and a link to Al Queda. We know that this is false and the Bush administration
concedes it as well. As a soldier who fought in that war, I feel misled. I feel that I was sent off to fight
for a cause that never existed. When I joined the military I did so to defend the United States of
America, not to be sent off to a part of the world to fight people who never attacked me or my country.
Many have died as a result of this. The people who started this war need to start being honest with t!
he American people and take responsibility for their actions. More than anything, they need to stop
saying everything is rosy and create a solution to this problem they created.

Thank you for hearing me out. God Bless our great nation, the United States of America.

John Bruhns