Iraq vets speak out against the costs of the war for the military, the soldiers, and the nation
On Saturday, Henry Rollins of the Independent Film Channel sat down with two members of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, First Lieutenant Paul Rieckhoff and Sergeant Jason Lemieux, to talk about their views on the war in Iraq.
Both men said their fathers had served in Vietnam. Lemieux explained that for him Marines "were the people helping little old ladies across the street," while Reickhoff said, "I wanted to jump out of airplanes and blow stuff up," but also added, "I wanted to give something back to the country that gave me so much."
Lemieux said that when he first went to Iraq, the troops were greeted as liberators by Shi'ites who had been oppressed under Saddam, but that during his second tour of duty in the Sunni Triangle "the difference was indescribable. ... It was like human life just lost all meaning. ... The population despised us." He described being in a 12-hour firefight where his section leader and number two man were both killed and the responsibility fell on him to bring everybody else out safely, saying that "solidified my all of my beliefs that the war was just not worth the cost."
Rieckhoff also described being welcomed as liberators in the spring of 2003, saying that "riding through Baghdad ... was like being on a float at Mardi Gras." But by the time he left in 2004, the Iraqis were angry and resentful and "the insurgency was in full bloom." For him, "the point where the light bulb went off in my head and confirmed that everything was getting screwed up" was when the US troops realized it was just them, with no humanitarian aid or allied nations coming. "It was just that point of disbelief that this could be planned so incredibly poorly."
Rieckhoff said that the US can't both be a superpower and have an all-volunteer army, and that the military is being run into the ground in Iraq. "The Iraq War has made us less safe, and ultimately we're going to experience kind of a Vietnam hangover," he said. "It's going to take a long time to repair the damage." He also pointed out the hidden problem of 1.8 million returning veterans, one-third of them with post-traumatic stress disorder, saying, "That cost of war is going to emerge in our local communities."
Both veterans agreed the media were selling the American people short by self-censoring and never showing dead American troops. They feel it is their obligation to remove the perception that you can't support the troops without supporting the war.
The following video is from IFC's Henry Rollins Show, broadcast on June 16.
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