Why Are We in Iraq?
Last year I was patrolling in a medium sized city in western Iraq in the middle of the night. The patrol was halted after an improvised explosive device was detonated by insurgents several streets away. W knocked on a door, and along with some members of my team, we were invited into a small Iraqi house. Once inside, I saw a small girl sitting on the floor shyly playing with an old ragged stuffed animal and watching myself and the other Marines who were talking with her father.
With nothing readily available to give the cute little child, I put my superstitions aside I asked my friend to cut the zip ties off of a stuffed animal that I had carried for luck within my gear the entire deployment. I walked over and handed it to her and said, “as-salamualaikum” (”peace be upon you”) she giggled and took the stuffed animal saying shyly “salam” (”peace”). I told her my name, which she pronounced “Jux-ton,” then she ran off to play and I walked back to the conversation.
Moments later the young girl reappeared dragging a chair that was bigger than she was. Motioning for me to sit down, she ran to the icebox and brought me a cup of cold water, and a small piece of bread.
I sat in the chair enjoying the water and bread, and for around five minutes I watched her playing with the stuffed squirrel in the other room. It was then time to saddle back up and continue on the patrol. As I left she waved shyly and said “thank you Jux-ton,” gave me a thumbs-up and hugged her new stuffed animal, before running to watch me leave out the front gates. When I got back onto the deserted street and continued the patrol, I knew exactly why I was in Iraq.
I can never turn my back on those people, and I can only pray that our nation won’t turn its back on those who need our help, despite the small, insignificant, disrespectful groups who will never understand our military’s mission, our courage, our bravery and most importantly our compassion.
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