GI's in Iraq are asking: Why are we here? by Anne Barnard

[flpoljunkie]

Article also published in the International Herald Tribune with the title above which was sanitized for the Boston Globe.

http://www.iht.com/articles/533600.html

http://www.boston.com/news/world/articles/2004/08/12/young_marines_frustrated_by_lack_of_progress?mode=PF

Young Marines frustrated by lack of progress

By Anne Barnard, Globe Staff  |  August 12, 2004

RAMADI, Iraq -- Four months into their tour of duty at one of the most dangerous American bases in Iraq, young Marines say the slow pace of progress is shaking their faith in their mission.

Playing cards one recent evening while on call to respond to any outburst of violence, Lance Corporal David Goward and the rest of his squad expressed two growing concerns: that the US military will linger here indefinitely and that the troops' very presence is provoking the fighting it is meant to stop. They are ready for any battle, they said, but a pervasive sense that Iraqis do not want their help has destroyed their enthusiasm for the larger goals of launching democracy and rebuilding the country.

"I don't think any of us even care what happens to this country," Goward said, as half a dozen Marines, all stationed in Ramadi, the capital of restive Anbar Province, nodded in agreement. "I'm here to make sure these guys get home safely. And they're here to make sure I do."

Senior Marine and Army commanders in this Sunni Muslim region west of Baghdad, an area they say must be tamed for the new US-backed Iraqi government to succeed, repeatedly cautioned a reporter that junior-level troops don't see the big picture. Grunts don't hear Anbar's governor asking the United States not to leave, the senior officers said. They don't see Iraqi officials shouldering new responsibilities; they don't see Iraqi police doing a better job on the outskirts of Ramadi than they do in the more anti-American downtown.

But Goward and his squad -- and others who echoed them from Ramadi to Fallujah -- are sending a signal from the enlisted men who bear the brunt of the military's burden. Many are on their second tour of duty in Iraq and may face a third if US forces are needed, as expected, to guarantee security through the election of a permanent Iraqi government late next year.

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