The Poem of Our Times

 

"The Sheepdogs"

Most humans truly are like sheep
Wanting nothing more than peace to keep

To graze, grow fat and raise their young,
Sweet taste of clover on the tongue.

Their lives serene upon Life's farm,
They sense no threat nor fear no harm.

On verdant meadows, they forage free
With naught to fear, with naught to flee.

They pay their sheepdogs little heed
For there is no threat; there is no need.

To the flock, sheepdog's are mysteries,
Roaming watchful round the peripheries.

These fang-toothed creatures bark, they roar
With the fetid reek of the carnivore,

Too like the wolf of legends told,
To be amongst our docile fold.

Who needs sheepdogs? What good are they?"
They have no use, not in this day.

Lock them away, out of our sight
We have no need of their fierce might.

But sudden in their midst a beast
Has come to kill, has come to feast

The wolves attack; they give no warning
Upon that calm September morning

They slash and kill with frenzied glee
Their passive helpless enemy

Who had no clue the wolves were there
Far roaming from their Eastern lair.

Then from the carnage, from the rout,
Comes the cry, "Turn the sheepdogs out!"

Thus is our nature but too our plight
To keep our dogs on leashes tight

And live a life of illusive bliss
Hearing not the beast, his growl, his hiss.

Until he has us by the throat,
We pay no heed; we take no note.

Not until he strikes us at our core
Will we unleash the Dogs of War

Only having felt the wolf pack' wrath
Do we loose the sheepdogs on its path.

And the wolves will learn what we've shown before;
We love our sheep, we Dogs of War.

Russ Vaughn
2d Bn, 327th Parachute Infantry Regiment
101st Airborne Division
Vietnam 65-66

Is it working?

I just had a conversation with an Iraqi interpreter.  He is a translator for an Iraqi unit that is advised by the Marines.  I saw him at lunch today and sat with him and two other interpreters.  He and one of the other guys at the table were two of the guys who were hit in the mortar attack in Hit on 9 OCT 06.  If you did not see what I wrote about that Mass Causality it is below.  He recognized me the other day and said, Hello.  He also thanked us for helping them that day.  They are all back to duty.  So today when I saw them as I was getting ready to find a place to sit, I asked to join them. 

 

He says that the reason why Iraq has outside interference is because the Iranians, Saudis, and Syrians fear a strong, unified Iraq.  They would like nothing more than to see it sectioned into 3 separate countries because they would gobble it up like Saddam tried with Kuwait.  The Turks just want to kill the Kurds but will not interfere unless there is no united Iraq.  

 

Which brings us to another point he made, Iraq has no real national identity as we have in the United States.  We are all Americans and understand that.  He sees that as one of the biggest problems here. 

 

He too believes that Saddam should have been removed back in 1991.  We left him off the ropes when he was beaten and we had all the support of the coalition behind us.  He speculates that something happened behind the scenes that Saddam was left in place.  I think perhaps it had something to do with the specter of Vietnam and the doctrine of limited warfare. 

 

This is a guy who could be in the states right now with his family but as an Iraqi he wants what is best for his countrymen.  If you remember back to what happened on the 9th of October, this is the same guy who said, "Same God." 

 

He also believes that part of the problem with the insurgents is the lack of jobs; they join militias like people join gangs in big cities.  Then they can do the things they want as part of the bigger group.  Thug behavior at best.  We discussed which came first the poverty or the criminal thinking and decided it was another chicken or the egg discussion.  Jail was another problem; it introduces some of them into the militias just as it seems to make better criminals in the US.  How many Boot Camp graduates have I seen come back to prison for Postgraduate work? 

 

All and all he wants us to stay until the work is done.  Then he can go to the states with his family.  I have a new respect for these guys who are interpreters. 

They came to see us.

I had a chance to do escot duty yesterday.  Low threat security for some VIP's.  Jim McMahon, Dave Price of "The Early Show," Kerri Turner (Lt Harriet Sims on JAG), and Kevin Butler - Chacago Bears Kicker.  They had a great time meeting and greating the troops.  My impression was that they were the ones who felt honored to meet those VIP's who are serving this great nation.  They were awed by us.

Kerri got a chance to see her doctor who is here at al Asad.  Not for professional reasons. She knows him from LA before he was deployed to here with a Sea Bee unit.  He was in line with his Sea Bee "body guards" to see her. 

 

Unfortunately, there was not time to stop at the hospital because the plane arrived late but they got out of here on time. 

 

The nurses from "The Cheaters of Death" were also here in full force.  Kerri wondered if there were any females here and found out firsthand who these women are.   Everyone of these women a true professional.  Makes me proud to know them as well as work with them. 

Changing Hearts and Minds

On 9 OCT 06, I walked into the mess Hall and had just got my tray filled and was getting ready to sit down to eat when I heard, "This is the command post, all medical personal report to the base hospital, this is not a drill."  I set down my tray on the table and headed for the door.  On the way out I ran into my DOC.  He is a Navy Doctor to whom I consult for my patients.  He was washing his hands on the way in and did not hear the announcement. 

 

Once I arrived at the hospital they had a hallway full of people waiting to help.  I figured I would be twiddling my fingers for sure.  Not so.  We received 27 patients and others were rerouted to TQ for treatment.  Seems the Iraqis were having a funeral for one of their own in Hit, when a mortar round struck in the middle of their formation.   

 

I got teamed with the Psychiatrist in a room with 5 patients.  We worked them up for the surgeon, admission, or treat and release.  One went to surgery, two were admitted and two were treated and released.  Everything went smooth.  Rapid trauma assessments, IV's started, and treatments were done.  Most of these guys had not eaten since 1 AM the day prior because of fasting for Ramadan.  That was good if they had to go to surgery. 

 

One of the guys, an Iraqi interpreter, said they had not eaten since 1 AM and it was about 9 PM when he told me this.  I ask why and he said because of Ramadan.  I knew they fasted during daylight but forgot it was now.  I said, "You will have to pardon us Christians for not knowing."  What he said indicated to me that he was my friend and had the right idea for what needs to be done, "Same God."  It is working.  

 

What we did spoke volumes to those guys.  They knew we cared.  It has been said, "no one cares how much you know until they know how much you care."   That is the approach that we need to take in Iraq and is the Special Forces way of winning the hearts and minds of the people. 

 

The regular army and marines have no concept of this.  It is not their fault, they just want to go “kick ass."  That is the conventional way of war.  This is now an unconventional war and the approach must be different. 

 

I finally left at 2330 hours and went to eat.  Walking into the mess hall I remarked, "Isn’t this where we started?"  

 

Does it make you feel alive to know that you changed their lives because someone else wanted to change their lives?  Hell, yes.  

 

Two days later my friend Jerry was killed just outside Camp Speicher in an ambush. 

Why the culture of Iraq needs to change

 

I think the Arabic word Inshallah is the evidence of a culturally based but religious induced "learned helplessness."  Do you remember the concept from psychology? The dogs in Seligman's experiments would not get away of the shock after being exposed to it long enough without an escape.  Eventhough they were shown how to get away from it they just let it happen.   In Islam, "if Allah allows" is the shibboleth of being a Muslim (he who submits to the will of Allah).  The true Muslim has no actual power to escape God's will/wrath because he has relinguished his will to that of Allah's to be a good Muslim. 

 

Let us be clear that submission to the will of God is not a new religious concept; consider the fist of the Ten Commandments given to Moses:

  

    Exodus 20: 1-11

 1 And God spake all these words, saying,  2 I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.  3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.  4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.  5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;  6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.  7 Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.  8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.  9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:  10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:  11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

This is not the first example of submitting to God's will from the first five books of the Bible; actually the account of the 10 Commandments is in the second book, Exodus.  The concept is first seen in Genesis 3: 1- 24, with Adam not submitting to the will/command of God (Koran 2:34-38).   Years later, we see the example of the flood, which is the result of man's failure to submit to God.  Likewise, there is the example from the tower of Babel; they did not follow God's command to "fill the earth" (Gen. 9-1).  Then we see Abraham's willingness to leave Ur (Gen. 12:1-4) and years later to sacrifice his son Isaac (Gen. 22:1 - 18), an act which is the pinnacle of that submission to God's will.  (Christianity has a different take on this event.)  In fact, the Jews assign a special name for this place, Yahweh yireh, The Lord Will Provide, (Gen. 22:14.)  From the Koran, Abraham's example is found in the second Chapter.  Notice these passages from that second chapter are about being a Muslim:

    2.112: Yes! whoever submits himself entirely to Allah and he is the doer of good (to others) he has his reward from his Lord, and there is no fear for him nor shall he grieve...

    2.124: And when his Lord tried Ibrahim with certain words, he fulfilled them. He said: Surely I will make you an Imam of men. Ibrahim said: And of my offspring? My covenant does not include the unjust, said He...

    2.128: Our Lord! and make us both submissive to Thee and (raise) from our offspring a nation submitting to Thee, and show us our ways of devotion and turn to us (mercifully), surely Thou art the Oft-returning (to mercy), the Merciful....

     2.131: When his Lord said to him, Be a Muslim, he said: I submit myself to the Lord of the worlds. 132: And the same did Ibrahim enjoin on his sons and (so did) Yaqoub. O my sons! surely Allah has chosen for you (this) faith, therefore die not unless you are Muslims. 133: Nay! were you witnesses when death visited Yaqoub, when he said to his sons: What will you serve after me? They said: We will serve your God and the God of your fathers, Ibrahim and Ismail and Ishaq, one God only, and to Him do we submit.  134: This is a people that have passed away; they shall have what they earned and you shall have what you earn, and you shall not be called upon to answer for what they did. 135: And they say: Be Jews or Christians, you will be on the right course. Say: Nay! (we follow) the religion of Ibrahim, the Hanif, and he was not one of the polytheists.  136: Say: We believe in Allah and (in) that which had been revealed to us, and (in) that which was revealed to Ibrahim and Ismail and Ishaq and Yaqoub and the tribes, and (in) that which was given to Musa and Isa, and (in) that which was given to the prophets from their Lord, we do not make any distinction between any of them, and to Him do we submit.

 

Read in context, these passages conflict with the Biblical account and demonstrates the rift between Jews, Christians, and Muslims.  As you read the Koran, the non Muslims are constantly portrayed as not human. 

 

Notice that Ishmael (Ismail) is mentioned 12 times in the Koran, Isaac (Ishaq ) ismentioned 17 times, and Abraham has a chapter (14) named for him and "the Imam of Men" - the perfect example in everything - is mentioned 70 times in the entire text of the Koran.  By the way, Jesus (Isa son of Maruim) is mentioned 27 times. 

 

Submission is one of the underlying concepts of all three religions.  The bottom line for me is that the religion of Islam is fatalistic in its belief system.  Free will is not from God in Islam but is the evidence of Satan's influence.  That is why we are the "Great Satan."  We have and exercise our free will. 

 

One of the Ugandans here with me in Iraq said, "The Muslims say this is the Promised Land; look around, I don't think God really loves them."   It is hard to disagree with that here in Iraq. 

 

Joseph J. Ogershok, Jr.

“Courage is being scared to death but saddling up anyway” John Wayne