Days of My Life

Talk about daily life of a teenage girl in Iraq, and days of suffering and success. My nick name will be Sunshine..

Monday, August 22, 2005

Why did he do that ?...

Hello friends ,
The day before yesterday at 11 o'clock in the morning we saw some panzers & soldiers in front of our house . We knew that there is inspection , I arranged my room & kept repeating welcoming sentences with my self & then they left without checking our house .
Anyway , in the afternoon we were about to leave to visit a nearby relative house , but we saw the road closed by the American forces, we knew there is another inspection .
My mom opened the doors ,the family kept waiting, but this time I kept watching TV , & I was not sure that they will choose our house for inspection.
I was in the living room , when I heard the bell , & my father was talking with someone in English , I said FINALY .
They asked my Parents if we have gun & they were surprised when they knew that we don’t .. & surprised more when they saw me talking English fluently. . It was the first time I speak with some one in English.
My mother was a little bit uncomfortable in the beginning , but the soldiers were nice with us, except one ,he was rude, he crushed the TV remote control , squeezed a tube of gel on the ground & on the bed cover & sheets.
He also powdered two bottles of Baby powder on my mother clothes in side her closet & on the bed cover, that was unseemly deportment. He did that while he was searching my parents room alone.
The other soldiers didn’t break anything . however we were expecting the worst & more losses . .We heard that some houses were damaged , so we were afraid that could happen to us .
I believed that if we cooperate with them & welcome them, they will check our house with more graciousness.
Every time I hear people saying that the soldiers broke this & did that , I would say: come on they are targets all the time , they expect attacks in every minute , certainly they will be nervous.
But if they see a co-operative family they will be nice!!!!.
Give me a reason i am confused...
Sunshine...

49 Comments:

At 7:03 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Good morning Sunshine!
As Lisa, said above, some people are just jerks. You are correct about the stress for you and the soldiers. The next door they enter may be the last door they enter. I see many people each day and some are JERKS. Keep smiling and stay safe.
GrandPa

 
At 7:31 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

at least most of the soldiers were ok. what a bad advert for the army that one was. I hope he gets spotted by the rest. take care.
starliz

 
At 8:25 PM, Blogger In His Steps said...

I'm sorry that the one soldier was so rude. As I posted in your mom's blog, perhaps he has alot of stresses going on too. That still doesn't excuse him from being so rude to your family. I hope most of the American soldiers are like the other two. It sounds like they have some level of compassion. On the whole I think alot of the US soldiers are there to help your country not harm you.

 
At 9:41 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hello Sunshine - I am so sorry that your home was visited by a rude and unfriendly soldier who behaved so badly. Whatever his reason may have been, he was wrong to do what he did. But you asked why he might have done that. Perhaps a good friend of his was hurt or killed recently and he was sad and angry. Perhaps he is just not a nice man (not every soldier is a nice person, although I think most are). I think that the reason he did that when he was alone was because the other soldiers would not have allowed him to behave like that if they saw him. I hope you will encourage your mother to complain to the commander of the soldiers in Mosul, as they will want to apologize, at the very least. I cannot post on your mother's blog directly because I do not have a blog of my own.

 
At 11:16 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Sunshine!

Sounds like the other soldiers were nice and surprised to meet someone who spoke English!

You should report the one baby powder/tooth paste soldier to the commander and tell him the bad soldier needs to come back and wash all the clothes that have tooth paste and baby powder on them.

It is called KP I think. Something soldiers hate to do when they get in trouble.

And make sure the Commander is standing there ordering him around until he gets the job done right!

:-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-)

 
At 4:32 AM, Blogger Dancewater said...

Sunshine,
what he did is beyond rude! I certainly cannot explain it. He needs to be punished for this behavior.

If you have any further contact with any Americans in your country, try to ask them their names (last names are more important than first names), where they live in the USA, and where they grew up.... name of High School, etc. Also ask them what the name of their company or unit is, how long they have been in the military, and if it seems okay, write it down while they are there. Ask them how to spell their last names. They will never suspect that you have dozens of American friends, and if something like this happens again, we can track down his family and let them know that we know what he did. It would not be hard for us to do at all. If it was really serious, we can let our Senators and Representatives know about it.

Now for something REALLY sad and horrible- go read my blog for today. And if you can find out anything about the young boy or his family that I wrote about, let us know.

http://dancewater.blogspot.com

Also, I think it is sad that our soldiers are not learning to speak Arabic, and I am glad that you are learning to speak English. Really does tell you who is smarter, eh?

 
At 5:20 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

They will never suspect that you have dozens of American friends, and if something like this happens again, we can track down his family and let them know that we know what he did. It would not be hard for us to do at all.

That's not the way it works, nor should it be.

Now for something REALLY sad and horrible- go read my blog for today. And if you can find out anything about the young boy or his family that I wrote about, let us know.

Being that the young boy is in Tikrit and Sunshine is in Mosul, I doubt she can help you shed light on the incident.

Please don't use Sunshine's blog to generate traffic to your political site.

And now.. back to the topic at hand...

 
At 5:35 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I agree with Lisa in NY. That soldier is leaving a bad imperssion on you by his actions and also ruining the other soldiers reputations. I would try to speak with someone about this. My husband is a soldier, currently in Afghanistan, and that would really anger him. Does not matter what was going through that soldiers mind...he has a job to do and it is not to destory your belongings. You and your family did nothing wrong. If you remember his name I would report him. And if your house is ever inspected again...I would follow them around to make sure nothing was damaged and if they do not allow that I would get their names and ranks. If nothing else, write it down from their uniforms along with the symbol of their rank. That way if anything is damaged you know who did it and then, again, report them. I understand why they are inspecting houses but that does not give them the right to destroy people things. I am really angry about this. If you do report it let us know what is said.

 
At 4:58 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

My Dearest Sunshine, I want to offer my most sincere apology for the action of that one idiotic soldier. He does not represent the majority of the military peop[le trying their best to be of assistance to all Iraqui. I could not sleep well last night thinking of this audacious action and realizing I could do nothing to be of help to yopu anfd your family. My only suggestion is to report the incident to MICHAELYON He is a civilian author stationed with the troops in Mosul and is in contact with many soldiers and officers. He may be able to assist you. Please be careful and do not report your name or exact address for security reasons. I hope this will be of some help to your family. Discuss it with your mother before taking any action.

 
At 5:06 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Incidentally, if you missed it Michael's E-Mail address is: MichaelYonIraq@hotmail.com
Best wishes. Be Safe and keep writing for us.

 
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At 6:35 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

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At 6:41 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

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At 6:51 AM, Blogger Dangerous Variable said...

Sunshine,

The fact that I read your blog and about the intrusion of soldiers in youer home makes me angry at the fact that they invaded your country in the first place. Stay strong!

 
At 7:01 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

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At 12:26 PM, Blogger Arab Lady said...

Well dear what do u expect from them? They occupy ur land and u want them 2 treat u politely! Be strong ,,I am sure that this experience with the occupation and the miserable life of the Iraqi people will strengthen ur personality and make u look at life in a different perspective….they justified their immoral war on iraq by claiming that Iraq had mass destruction weapons,,,but they found nothing,,,so what are they doing on the land!!

 
At 10:12 PM, Blogger Jack B. said...

Sunshine, as an American I want to apologize for that bad soldier. As Lisa said, he was just being a jerk, a mean person, it wasn't your fault, it was his. Not all soldiers are like that. I hope your mother is able to file a complaint with the American command in Mosul. If this soldier did this in your home, the home of a family that welcomed the soldiers, who knows what he did in others? All it takes is one bad person to ruin it for everyone else. This soldier reflects badly on the US military and his superiors should be angry about his actions.

On the other hand, I'm glad the other soldiers were polite and that you got to practice your English. I bet you speak it very well! I really do think though that the language barrier is not helping the American mission in Iraq, officers at least should have been given basic lessons in Arabic before being assigned to duty.

Your mom has posted that you had a dangerous asthma attack! It got me scared for you, I hope you are better now. Thankfully you have a great mother watching over you.

And Anonymous, whoever you are - stop spamming this girl's blog!

 
At 2:30 AM, Blogger quixote said...

Sunshine- everyone who posted about the guy being a jerk is right. And people are also right that there are always some jerks. What I haven't seen mentioned is that in a well-disciplined military force such things should not be happening. It doesn't matter if they're tired or scared or want to go home, or whatever the excuse is. It's a disgrace that our soldiers don't behave better. It's not the first time I've heard about atrocious behavior by US troops. Usually, when you hear about it here, it's because it had fatal consequences. Thank God, that wasn't the case this time.

 
At 9:04 AM, Blogger programmer craig said...

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

 
At 9:32 AM, Blogger programmer craig said...

I deleted my own comment about ArabLady and Hamas. Sorry for posting it :)

 
At 6:08 PM, Blogger olivebranch said...

Sunshine! I want my blog to be as popular as yours!

 
At 6:15 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

The incident has been reported and investigation to identify the unit is underway. Please remember this family is caught in the middle of a war zone. Keep that in mind when you post!

Sgt.

 
At 10:05 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

By the way, Sgt., Michael Yon has an amazing new dispatch from Mosul that shows just what you guys are facing every day.

Gates of Fire

I hope LTC Kurilla gets well soon.

 
At 9:37 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Sallam alikum, Sunshine. Shonak?
I am an American soldier, in Baghdad. I am so sorry for for what happened to you, I promise you that we are not all like that! I have a 14 year old daughter I miss very much, and my greatest wish is to survive to get home to my family. It breaks my heart to see any soldier act like that one did. I know that if we can work together, as friends, Iraq will again be a beautiful, safe, and free country. You deserve that, and I promise to work as hard as I can to make that happen.
Ana 'aasif. Ma sallama.

 
At 10:01 PM, Blogger Papa Ray said...

Some Americans (and other armies soldiers, also)Soldiers don't handle rage, resentment and flustration as well as they should. Or as well as some of their fellow Soldiers do.

Ask yourself why? Well, its hard on all, harder on some to see their friends blown to pieces, killed, wounded going home without arms, legs or sometimes eyes and other terrible wounds.

Most Armys in the past just killed, raped and destroyed property when ever they wanted to, it was expected and the usual mode of operation.

The American Army doesn't do that. Of course there are exceptions.

Anyway, hope you got the mess cleaned up.

Papa Ray
West Texas
USA

 
At 10:23 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Sunshine,

You may have observed that many of the people who are responding to your question never wanted you to have a chance for freedom. Their delusion is so profound that they don’t even mind telling you so. Think about that fact before you listen to their nonsense.

Because they have not been to Iraq and know nothing about the military they don’t realize how profound their ignorance is. That soldier was insensitive but he was looking for explosives in those containers which can kill your friends and family. He crushed the remote control because the Ahrabi use them to detonate IED’s. This is not to excuse the fact that the soldier should have been more sensitive but it is important for you to understand the reason for what he did.

You may not have noticed what he did until after the patrol left but in the future let his leadership know what he did on the spot. Understand though that unlike the people who post on this blog he is the one who is putting his life on the line to give you a better future. Most of his detractors have no interest in improving your situation whatsoever. Many of them are hoping that he leaves and they don’t care about the chaos that would ensue. Many of them think living under Saddam is what you deserved. They would not want to live under him but they think you should.

Bill Sullivan

 
At 1:04 AM, Blogger programmer craig said...

Bill, where did all that come from? I suspect my opinions are similar to yours, but with a couple of exceptions, I have not seen many people posting political comments on Sunshine's blog! I've certainly tried to avoid that myself.

I don't agree with you about this, however. And just so you know, I was an infantryman in the US Marines for 6 years, on active duty. Why not open the clamshell on the remote, to make sure it was just a remote? Why empty the tube on the bed linens? Why dump baby powder all over somebodies clothes?

Malicious acts. I understand perfectly well the reason why they have to search homes, but they don't have to VANDALIZE homes. Guys like this soldier make it difficult for me, every time I try to defend the US military to it's detractors - which is something I do quite a bit. I want this guy caught and I want him punished. I also want him sent home, because I think he's potentially dangerous.

 
At 3:18 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Bill- First of all, TV remotes are not used, garage door openers, cell phones, pagers etc. are. Second, there are few detactors on this blog. This GI will face Article 15, UCMJ, when he is identified. Craig is absolutely correct, the GI is dangerous to his unit and mission. I, like Craig, was also a grunt,my tour was Hue, RVN-Class of '68. If that is unfamilar to you, Google "Tet 1968", Semper Fi.
David

 
At 8:14 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

My points stand.

Including the efficacy of any remote controller capable of transmitting a signal.

I did not excuse the soldiers behavior. Their is no excuse and he makes all of our jobs harder.

No political points made? Perhaps you should view "dancewaters" post. Or maybe his or her blog http://dancewater.blogspot.com. Or perhaps you should read the "arablady" posts. I would argue that they, like the insensitive soldier make all our jobs harder.

But I digress.

The fact of the matter is that we are asking our soldiers to be superhuman. Unfortunately there are some who are only human. This individual was obviously one of them.

As for Vietnam. The template used for all subsequent US conflicts....

The acts of a few were used against the majority of soldiers who served with honor in Vietnam. If the US withdraws, the people of Iraq may suffer the same fate the Vietnamese have suffered for the past 30 year Some like to make pretend that the Vietnames have enjoyed the past 30 years living under brutal repression. I wonder if they really have. We don't know because they cannot tell us.

Perhaps we should keep that in perspective when we look at this situation.

There is much at stake in Iraq, not only for Sunshine but for all of us.

 
At 9:27 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

"I don't know how many soldiers entered Sunshine's house but it had to be at least four. The others were all very polite and professional. We all said that what this one soldier did was wrong and we said that, if possible, he should be identified so it can be corrected."

I got to wondering..... why was he alone? Why did he split off from the rest of the soldiers? Did they all plan this?

Sammy

 
At 9:30 AM, Blogger Dancewater said...

bill sullivan,

thanks for promoting my blog. Maybe you would want to read Sunshine's comments on there?

Everyone else: if you don't want to be reading stuff that you may not agree with, stay away from my blog.

 
At 12:23 PM, Blogger programmer craig said...

I'm getting tired of self-censoring myself because of you and ArabLady, Dancewater. Nobody else is putting political stuff on Sunshine's blog... can't you limit yourself to your own blog? As you said, we could go theer if we wanted to hear your political comments. Sunshine apparrently does, since she reads your blog. She may also read ArabLady's blog - which said "Hamas is NOT a terrorist group" in the top post when I visited it. However, Sunshine has chosen NOT to post political stuff here on her own blog. I really wish you would stop creating reasons to insert your politics here. I've deleted 5 or 6 comments I made in the past along these lines. I'm going to let this one stand, and hope you get the message. Otherwise, I'll just stop reading sunshines blog. It's just going to become another hate-fest if you have your way.

 
At 5:27 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

"thanks for promoting my blog. Maybe you would want to read Sunshine's comments on there?"

You are quite welcome dancewater. Perhaps your sole focus on the failures of US troops in Iraq will make Iraqi's think we are all dysfunctional, bloodthirsty, killers.

Perhaps your blog will facilitate the early withdrawl of US troops from Iraq before their is a stable, functioning government. Perhaps instead of US soldiers searching homes it will be the Ahrabi.

By the way, the Ahrabi don't bother spilling powder and breaking television remote controls when they are frustrated. You don't want to talk about what they do, but the high Iraqi civilian death toll is their primary focus.

You are doing a great job dancewater, keep up the good work!

 
At 9:02 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Did he have a nametag?? If so, try to remember his name and go to the JCC, which is normally near your local police headquarters. They can put you in touch with the his supervisor, if you want to make a complaint.

 
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At 1:25 AM, Blogger Unknown said...

Hey Sunshine. I notice as a read the comments about the one soldier who was wrong and truly needed punishment from his superiors. Every soldier over in Iraq represents America, and if they misrepresent us then need to be punished and corrected. It's totally true what Lisa in New York said in the first reply, some people are just jerks. But that doesn't mean we have to accept that as final. If they are jerks, they need to be straightened out by their commander.

Take care and I hope to hear from you soon,
Kelly

 
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