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[olympian2004]

The Final Chapter of My Trip To Iraq, by Martha Zoller

Isn’t it interesting how things have a natural beginning and end to them? The Voices of Soldiers Tour began flying away from Hurricane Dennis and ended flying away from one of the biggest sand storms in history. Col. Daniel Kornacki, the Commander of the Air Base at the Baghdad Airport from the 94th Airlift out of Dobbins and is a Delta 767 pilot in his other life, said that sand storms are the desert’s thunderstorms. Coming from tornado alley, that is an analogy I can understand.

Our group (Buzz Patterson of Rightalk, Melanie Morgan of KSFO in San Francisco, Mark Williams of KFBK in Sacramento, Michael Graham, WMAL in Washington, DC, Howard Kaloogian of Move America Forward, Brad Maaske of KMJ in Fresno and an expert on Saddam Hussein, Filmmaker Dan Hare, Navy and Commercial pilot and 9-11 family member, Producer Holly Williams, Nancy Alexander, Move America Forward Former Executive Director Sioban Guiney and me, Martha Zoller of WDUN and Rightalk), began the week hoping to get one day in Iraq. We spent 4 life-changing days and came away with a new and pragmatic view of the Coalitions role in the War on Terror.

We began at CENTCOM Headquarters in Tampa, Florida. After some bad press based on incorrect information, the brass in Tampa was a little wary of us and didn’t know what to expect. Our first assignment was to make sure that CENTCOM knew that we were going to be fair in our reporting and that we were focused on the mission. We began with a briefing by General John Custer, who reports directly to General Abaziad. In 55 minutes he laid out the most compelling case for the Global War on Terror that I have ever seen. Since the briefing is unclassified, our first question was, “why not make sure every American has access to this briefing?”

The Coalition understands what they are up against, how it spreads, the numbers that oppose them through fundamentalist Islamic terrorism and how to bring it to their knees using military, financial and political options and they are employing all of them right now, today. They understand that the fight in Iraq is the battlefield for the Global War on Terrorism.

This briefing was followed by a radio row with food that brought the rank and file out for interviews as well as the Coalition Partners. Our group spent the day talking with US military and the Coalition Partners. The number one thing I took away from this was that General Custer said that the perspective of the Coalition Partners was crucial to America understanding the way things work outside of our perspective and the Generals of the Coalition Partners said that even though America is the largest military power in the world, they listen to the partners and implement their suggestions. The independent confirmation of a relationship that is beneficial to all the partners highlighted the strength of these relationships for the purpose of fighting terrorism.

When we arrived in Kuwait it was late and we did stay in a hotel, the last hotel we would stay in for the duration of the trip. We had just enough time to be issued our protective gear, take a shower and get a few hours of sleep and have breakfast before heading to the airfield. As beautiful and bright as the ride into Kuwait City was, it was contrasted by the ride to the American base in Kuwait. The security was evident and the gravity of our trip began to take hold. We arrived at the air terminal, boarded the plane in full gear and landed with a combat landing in Iraq about 2 hours later. We were taken in a secure convoy to Camp Victory.

Our accommodations were cots in tents with other soldiers. This turned out to be one of the best experiences. Camp Victory is a transition point and there were soldiers and marines coming in and out every day from other missions. This gave us the opportunity to interact with these folks, as they wanted to in a more relaxed environment. There was power and air conditioning in each tent, plenty of access to showers and bathrooms. Also, each tent had wireless internet access. It didn’t work well for my computer, but there were plenty of soldiers and marines that were emailing and surfing the web in their off time. While it was Spartan, it was comfortable. I was able to quickly contrast that with the soldiers coming in from patrols, which were in many cases spending two weeks to month away from an established camp and had none of the comforts of home. Those guys (and I use that as a gender generic term), will head for the computers to find out the news from home when they come back in. Interestingly, they said that they liked Fox News over CNN, but not for the reason you might think. Fox will allow you to view video at no charge longer than CNN will. When you’ve come back in with no access to news for 2 weeks or so, you don’t want to pay to watch the video. There may be ideological preferences, but these soldiers wanted to read and watch the news with out having to pay for it.

During the week, we spent time at the Palace inside the camp, one of over 30 that Saddam built since the end of the first Gulf War. Can you say “Oil for Food” money? We also met with one of the Iraqi generals. Some of us went to the Green Zone and went on operations with soldiers and marines inside the zone now called the International Zone. We broadcasted live daily to our home markets using whatever phone line was available. Flexibility in broadcasting was the way to work during this week.

The sand storm kicked up and stayed around two days. We spent 18 hours in the temporary terminal at the Baghdad Airport. This was also a great opportunity because random military and civilian contactors came in and out on their way to other places and leave and other bases or home and provided an opportunity to continue to expand the number of people and the viewpoints. The most radical viewpoint came from a UN worker, who didn’t want to have her name used. The day before a heinous homicide car bomb exploded in a crowd of children and families that had gathered around Americans giving out candy. The cowardly bomber waited until the children had gathered and then detonated the bomb, killing 27 children. She said it was terrible that the American soldier was giving candy to the children. Blaming an American soldier in a peaceful exchange with Iraqi children for a car bomber, who killed them, is just the kind of twisted thinking we are up against in the Global War on Terror. That is what we are fighting for and against. We are fighting for the right for this American UN worker to speak her mind and we are fighting against the stupid idea that Americans and Western culture is the cause of terrorism. It is a stupid and dangerous idea that we must fight against every day.

When I arrived home, I felt proud to be an American. In the soldiers that had no complaints and the soldiers that had complaints, they had in common the dedication to the mission. Warriors are the last ones to want war. None of these men and women “wanted” to be there, but they believe in the mission and they are committed to staying to the end. I am confident in their leadership, I am confident that the President is on the right track and I am confident the American and Coalition soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines, will be the Greatest Generation of their time and will stop the spread of terrorism.

http://www.accessnorthga.com/articles/afullstory.asp?ID=94277

http://www.marthazoller.com/
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Tony in Boulder, Colorado