9/28/2004 08:55:00 AM|W|P|Bradley Jones|W|P|Hey everyone, I know I have been slacking a bit with writing new messages, I'm sorry. I have just been so tired and unmotivated lately. There has been a little bit of good news lately though. We recently moved out of the tents and into CHU's. Connex Housing Unit's. Basicaly the same thing I was living in while I was in Baqubah. Along with moving in comes the added pleasure of having to sandbag them. This is the first time this platoon has had to do this but I have already sandbagged eight of these things before. I am not looking forward to it. Also, instead of there being 2 people per CHU we are living 3. It really isn't too bad but I feel sorry for my roommates as I have a lot of stuff. As always. Ok so here is the scoop on my R&R. The date I was given is the 5th of October. Now this means that I will have to be at the departure spot on the 5th of October. I don't know if I will actually leave on that day or not. I am expecting to be in the States around the 7th. I won't know times or exact dates until I get to Kuwait I think. I am not sure how I will notify any of you of my exact arrival time either but will try and work something out. Elizabeth you had mentioned something about me flying into a certain airport during the week and another on the weekend. Please let me know again which it was. I might be able to swing flying into Reagan. Once I get in the states I should have 14 days from the day after I land. So I will probably be leaving again on the 21st or 22nd. Not sure how they are going to work it. Anyway, I am getting really excited and cannot wait. Oh, I am going to have to go straight to a mall because I have absolutely no civilian clothes. Well, I will keep you guys posted if anything changes but I don't think it will this time. Can't wait to set foot on good old american soil. Talk to you all soon. Oh, my address if any of you lost or misplaced it is: SGT Bradley C. Jones D co 101 MI BN (FWD) FOB Danger 1ID OIF 2 APO AE 09392 Miss you all, BCJ |W|P|109634817119289222|W|P|R&R|W|P|calvin3ztt@gmail.com9/28/2004 04:41:00 PM|W|P| Anonymous|W|P|Brad,

I'm so excited! My mom told me yesterday, and I couldn't think straight the whole day. Hopefully, I did well enough on the math exam I had to take last night. About your flight, I think it depends on what time it gets in. I'll email you the specifics of which ones would be better or easier for you. And don't worry about the civilian clothes, I'll have some waiting for you...at least 2 days worth to hold you over until we can get to a mall. I can't tell you how excited I am, and seeing as how this time the dates are so soon, I have little worries about the dates being changed a second time. I'll email you about the flights and stuff. I love you!!!!!

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO,

Elizabeth12/27/2004 09:40:00 PM|W|P| Anonymous|W|P|Hello Brad,

We've been thinking of you and I spoke with your Mom on Christmas and she told me you hope to be out of Iraq soon. That's such great news.

We had a fairly quiet Christmas with Rose and her boyfriend, Mark, and Lois's Mom and Sister over for dinner on Christmas Eve....and then just our family together on Christmas day.

I've been hearing stories on the news about how the troops have been doing their best to experience the Holidays...and hope your Christmas had some cheer in it.

I want to send you love and best wishes for the coming year and hope that it will lead to you many promising opportunities for when you come home. I'm sure your your experience in Iraq will benefit you in your future goals and endeavors.

I feel a little badly that I didn't get something sent over to you...but I'm afraid I'm not very good with shopping and packages....barely got things together here at home.

But I want you to know that you are in our thoughts and prayers. Be careful and safe in the coming month. Send us a photo if you can.

Love and Best Wishes,

Uncle Warren, Lois, and Rose9/20/2004 04:59:00 PM|W|P|Bradley Jones|W|P|I know I haven't written anything new in a while, sorry about that. There are two reasons. First, I was giving everyone a little time to make it through the article that I posted. I know it is a little one sided but thought it was good nonetheless. Second, well I have been swamped at work. Which is actually a good thing but I hate it. I am working on updating my resume' so that I am not getting as many Linguist job offers as I am. I really don't want to do this anymore. Ok, so on the the camel spider story. There I was laying in my "bed" in our tent watching "Family Guy", which I think is hilarious, when out of the corner of my eye I see something on the tent move. Now, I see this right above my bed. I know I can't be seeing things but the light was low because I only had light from my computer screen. So I slowly grab a flashlight. Once I turned it on and pointed it in the direction of the ceiling and what moved.... my suspicions came true!! It was a camel spider! I couldn't move, it was only like 3 feet above me! So I lay there still thinking about what I should do. Should I jump out of bed? No, he might jump on me because I startled it. Ok, my slippers are on the left side of my cot get them and go find someone to help. WAIT! Going that way means moving closer to the spider! Scratch that. Only one option left. Get out on the right and put my boots on without socks. Of course one could have crawled in there while I wasn't paying attention and I can't look because who knows what the guy on the ceilings going to do if I take my eyes off of it. So, finally I am out of bed in my shorts undershirt and boots. Standing at the end of my bed with my flashlight on the spider thinking about the next move. Man this is worse than chess!! I only have myself! I can't try and swat it down because he'll land on my bed and who knows where he will go then. I don't have anything to grab him with and everyone else is asleep. AH! Some guy who is temporarily staying in our tent just came in. So I ask him "Are you afraid of spiders?" He says "No" thank god! So I enlist his help although I think of getting a water bottle and trying to trap him in it and then cart the bottle and him outside. Well, as I am moving toward him with the water bottle, I freeze. What if I miss and he lands on my arm? or on my bed? or jumps on me? what if.... what if...... "You want me to do it he asks?" Aaaahhhh! " YES!" so after he captures it in the bottle I take it out to the dumpster and throw him away. It took me at least 30 minutes to fall asleep after that. I know I know, I'm a chicken when it comes to spiders. I admit it. Last night I was trying to open up an Xbox controller and stabbed my left index finger right in front of the nail with my knife I had sharpened the day before. I don't know what it is but I swear I am getting clumsier as time goes on here. Ok, I have to vent about something here. What is it about politics that people have to constantly try and find some kind of dirt on the people running. I am not really into politics, in fact I hate politics. I get so irritated watching any TV these days. This woman Kitty Kelley and her book, claiming The President did cocaine at Camp David, and that the First Lady, sold weed during college. The Kerry campaign attacking the Presidents military service, and vice versa, WHO CARES what they did 20-30 years ago? Honestly, I don't. Only thing I care about now is what they have done recently. What do they plan on doing? It's just really irritates me. This whole process is just somewhat childish in my opinion. Well, I gotta get going. Talk to you all soon. BCJ |W|P|109568888242020783|W|P|Another Camel Spider|W|P|calvin3ztt@gmail.com9/21/2004 12:57:00 AM|W|P| Anonymous|W|P|Hi Son,
Good to finally have another posting. Sorry to hear you are so tormented by the dreaded camel spider. If that is the worst you encounter while there, I will be happy!
We are anxious to hear about your R&R date next month. I know you are too. I guess like you've said, you can't count on anything until a few days before - but it will be something to look forward to with great anticipation. And by then, there will be less than 4 months to go before you return to Germany to out process. Oh happy day. It can't come soon enough for any of us.
The temperature has dropped a little there but I bet you can't tell - it's only 104 now instead of 118!. We are anxious for some fall weather to arrive here before we go riding in Arkansas next month.
Keep posting and let me know if you need anything at all. Take pictures even if we can't see them until you get home. Most of all, be safe and remember we think of you and pray for your safety every day.
I miss you terribly and love you so very much.
Your Mom9/21/2004 09:10:00 PM|W|P| Anonymous|W|P|Hi Brad.
Good to hear that you didn't loose your humor yet! ;) Klingt lustig, deine Spider-Story. Wie gross sind die Krabbeltiere denn? Eigentlich hättest du ja sofort wissen müssen, was du tun sollst, nachdem du aus dem Bett gestiegen bist: 1. Fotoapparat holen und ein Bild für uns "Nicht-Iraker" machen!
2. ...
Sorry, dass mein letzter Kommentar so unendlich lange wurde. Ich werde mich bessern und diesen hier kurz halten. Trotzdem zur Politik: Was die Leute vor 30 Jahren gemacht haben, ist vielleicht heute nicht mehr wichtig (sie sind auch erwachsen geworden), kann aber dabei helfen, ihren Charakter zu beurteilen und ihre Entscheidungen zu verstehen. Wir alle wachsen doch an unseren Erfahrungen und Erlebnissen, oder nicht?!
Aber was wer schreibt, das ist oftmals purer Populismus. Wer würde denn sonst das Buch lesen, wenn nicht ein paar Gemeinheiten drinstünden? Die Frau will ihren Kram schliesslich verkaufen und keine Wahrheiten oder Offenbarungen verkünden... Wir müssen als Leser ja nicht alles glauben oder überhaupt lesen, was uns da angeboten wird.
Ganz liebe Grüsse, halt durch und freu dich auf deinen wohl verdienten Urlaub zu Hause. Klingt so, also würdest du sehnlichst erwartet werden. ;)
Deine Ulrike9/22/2004 08:47:00 PM|W|P| Anonymous|W|P|Brad,
This posting made me laugh out loud.
Ok, so, your books and twistlers are still sitting in my living room. I promise to mail them next weekend. (Work started early and hasn't stopped.) I'll throw in an extra bag of candy. Would you post your address again?
Take care. Miss ya.
Gin9/28/2004 07:37:00 AM|W|P| Anonymous|W|P|Hi Brad,
Guess you think we have forgotton you, the answer is no and no. Finally got you another package in the mail today, did the other one ever catch up to you, hope so.
We will you be getting your r&r? It was great to have another posting from you, at least you can write about the spiders with humor. I agree with you on the politics, who care what happened thiry years ago, it is who they are now and what they plan to do in the future. Looking forward to the day you can come and we can all meet you. Take care for now Caryn9/12/2004 02:45:00 PM|W|P|Bradley Jones|W|P|This article was in the Brigade Quartermaster magazine and thought I would share it. Remembering Why We Fight By William J. Bennet Adapted from remarks at the Claremont Institute’s President’s Club weekend, May 14, In Rancho Mirage, California. Reprinted with permission from the Claremont Institute. Last month, given all of the attacks on our soldiers, and the conflicts in Fallujah and Najaf, I was reminded of T.S. Elliot, who wrote, “April is the cruelest month, breeding lilacs out of the dead land; mixing memory and desire; stirring dull roots with spring rain.” Now, with the reports and images we are seeing from Abu Ghraib, the hearings in the House and Senate, and the slaughter of Nicholas Berg of Philadelphia, I’m not sure what to say about this month – it contends with April, to say the least. Our emotions are stirred, our consciences are challenged. Nonetheless, our mission must remain clear; our armed forces must remain resolute, and we must gird ourselves for what lies ahead. Given all we have seen and read over the past few months, I think what Churchill said is applicable today: “This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.” Now is the time to take our gloves off. Now is the time to show our hand. Now is the time to unleash our terrible, swift sword – a sword we may have kept sheathed for too long. Let me start with the images of Abu Ghraib. We were all rightly disgusted and dejected by what we saw there. Several of our soldiers engaged in ugly, deplorable, disgusting, and inhumane acts. Let’s remember those adjectives. We need to get our language right. Emerson said, “The corruption of man is followed by the corruption of language.” What happened at Abu Ghraib was not a matter of poor training of bad supervision. These were humans acting inhumanely. When I hear that they were not properly trained or supervised, I wonder if those who say that have lost their common sense as well. What kind of training does someone need to know that it is wrong to abuse other human beings like that, mugging for a camera, knowing such images will travel somewhere - if not everywhere? This was not a matter of poor military training any more than it was a matter of poor military judgment. This was a matter of poor human training and poor human judgment. We don’t need to read the Geneva Conventions or the Code of Military Justice to know this. This was basic stuff. You can find it in the Bible; you can find it in Aristotle. If you need the armed forces to be trained in decency, you’ve waited too long. This was not the fault of our armed forces any more than it was the fault of Secretary Donald Rumsfeld or President George W. Bush. Let’s remember the characters here, and let’s remember how it shows the character of America. Yes, some American soldiers did this ugly stuff in Abu Ghraib. But it was reported and stopped by other American soldiers. We have the image of Lynndie England (the cultural descendant of Tonya Harding), pointing to a naked men, holding another man by a leash. We do not need to see her again. We’ve forgotten – the name of Army Specialist Joseph M. Darby. But as Anne Applebaum of the Washington Post wrote last week, both soldiers – Darby and England – had choices. England had the choice to engage in inhumane activity, and Joseph Darby had the choice to do nothing about it. Here, however, is what Darby chose: “He chose to place an anonymous note under the door of a superior describing the abuse. Later he chose to make a sworn statement, setting off the investigation.” We know little of England, save that she grew up fairly poor and in a trailer park. As if that general report explains anything. It doesn’t. Here’s what we know, now, of Specialist Joe Darby: “Darby lived in a coal town, in a household headed by a disabled stepfather. To make ends meet, he worked the night shift at Wendy’s.” Bad actions, wrong actions, even evil actions, have nothing to do with economics, poverty, wealth, or any other artificial construct any more than good actions do. They have to do with moral fiber. Those who attacked us on 9/11, as much as those who planned and trained them, were upper- and middle-class Arabs. Bin Laden is wealthier than any of us can hope to be. Mohammed Atta drove a Mercedes. Al-Zawahiri is a physician from an upper-class family. Let’s hear no more of root causes; let’s speak, instead, of right and wrong and good and evil. What Lynndie England did is not anywhere near on par with what our attackers did, but economic circumstance is the cause of neither of their actions. And as for shame, the bag should be on Lynndie England’s head, not the prisoner’. She is the one who should be hiding, or should have been hiding, from the camera – not mugging for it. There are questions that the press needs to answer for too. To paraphrase Jonah Goldberg: WHY IS IT THAT WHEN SHOCKING IMAGES MIGHT STIR AMERICANS TO FAVOR WAR- LIKE THE BEHEADING OF AN AMERICAN CITIZEN – THE JOURNALISTS SHOW GREAT RESTRAINT? WHEN THOSE IMAGES HAVE THE OPPOSITE EFFECT, WHY DO JOURNALISTS LET THEM FLY? Let me put this in context: The very day that the Muntada al-Ansar website distributed the images of the slaughter of Nick Berg, almost every media outlet went on record to say they would not show that slaughter. CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, and NBC all said this, according to AP television writer David Bauder. Fox News, I gather, did not make a knee-jerk decision; they did not go on immediate record with the AP. Perhaps they were contemplating the morality of it all. We’ve been here before. Not only was there very little shown of the burning and beating and hanging of the contract workers in Fallujah at the end of March; you cannot even get those images now. There were immediate decisions not the show the footage of 9/11 either. How many people in this room remember those who were in the Twin Towers and jumped out of them, to their certain death, thinking, evidently, that jumping from 80 stories and above was a better option than what they were going through? How many people know how many jumpers there were? NBC showed one man jumping, then stopped – saying it was a mistake. There were an estimated 200 people who jumped to their deaths, for a few more seconds of life, a few more seconds of life in their own hands, using drapes and table cloths as parachutes – parachutes that the force of their fall ripped from their hands. Why do we not see the plastic shredders that humans were placed in under Saddam Hussein, sometimes head first, sometimes feet first? Why do we not see Hussein’s torture chambers, which were operated as a matter of policy, and see instead only our abuse, which was an aberration? Why do we not see the mass graves of al-Hilla? Why do we only see our abuse and not their terror? And why do you almost exclusively have to read Victor Davis Hanson and Jeff Jacoby to learn about the successes in Iraq? Why – as Christopher Hitchens has said – do you have to go to Iraq yourself to see what is actually being done by our soldiers, what is being done to help, repair, fix, make better, that one-time cradle of civilization that Hussein turned into a deathbed and hellhole? Yes, it is time, indeed even in the cruelty of April and May, to show that we are “breeding lilacs out of the dead land; stirring dull roots with spring rain.” Professor Hanson has done a wonderful job of explaining many of our great successes in this war. If I may paraphrase him: Osama bin Laden is either dead or on the run; and when terrorists are on the run, they cannot easily plan attacks. We have killed or captured two-thirds of the al Qaeda leadership and, for the first time in over a decade, marginalized the modern world’s leading terrorist, Yasser Arafat. It was Arafat who taught the world the use of hijacking airliner for political purposes. During the Clinton administration it was he who visited the White House more than any other foreign leader. Arafat has not been offered one meeting, handshake, or embrace by President Bush. Libya has issued an international surrender. Saddam Hussein is in prison. The list goes on and on. “Our war on terror is well begun, but it is only begun. This campaign may not be finished on our watch – yet it must be and it will be waged on our watch. We can’t stop short. If we stop now – leaving terror camps intact and terror states unchecked – our sense of security would be false and temporary. History has called America and our allies to action, and it is both our responsibility and our privilege to fight freedom’s fight.” President George W. Bush State of the Union Address January 29, 2002 “We need to disarm Saddam Hussein. He is a brutal, murderous dictator, leading an oppressive regime. We all know the litany of his offenses.” “He presents a particularly grievous threat because he is so consistently prone to miscalculation…. And now he is miscalculating America’s response to his continued deceit and his consistent grasp for weapons of mass destruction.” “So the threat of Saddam Hussein with weapons of mass destruction is real, but it is not new. It has been with us since the end of the Persian Gulf War.” Sen. John Kerry Foreign Policy Speech Georgetown University Washington, D. C. January 23, 2003 Prepared Remarks And as Jeff Jacoby has written about our successes in Iraq: “Unemployment has been cut in half. Wages are climbing. The devastated southern marshlands are being restored. More Iraqis own cars and telephones than before Saddam was ousted. Some 2,500 schools have been rehabbed by the U.S.-headed coalition. Spending on health care has soared thirty-fold, and millions of Iraqi children have been vaccinated. Iraqi athletes, no longer terrorized by Saddam’s sadistic son Uday, are training for the summer Olympics in Greece. Many who fled Iraq under Hussein, are fleeing back – especially from Iran. The exodus of refugees that was predicted on the eve or our liberation had it exactly backward: people are fleeing back into Iraq.” That list goes on and on, too. It is this set of lists, these reasons – and not the abuse of a handful at Abu Ghraib – that caused Abu Zarqawi and his band of thugs to slaughter Nick Berg. They know what America is doing, and they know that if America wins this effort, they and their fascism will be finished. They targeted Nick Berg because he was an American – and possibly also because he was a Jew; and they would have killed him whether the Abu Ghraib story was published or not. How do I know? I know because the Abu Ghraib story was not disseminated when these barbarians burned, stomped, and hung our contractors in Fallujah. I know because the Abu Ghraib incidents hadn’t even happened when Wall Street Journal reporter Danny Pearl suffered exactly the same fate as Nick Berg in February of 2002. And, I know because Abu Ghraib was in the hands of Saddam Hussein on 9/11, when bin Laden and his allies killed, murdered, slaughtered 3,000 of us. We encourage their wrath by our existence, not by our actions. On must judge this democracy – ours – as one must judge any country – democracy or not: in its totality, and in its mean. Not in its extreme, and not in its aberration. Although we should be proud of how we are treating our aberrant soldiers, with accountability and due process and punishment, I agree with what the late Pat Moynihan said. He asked then, and we ask now: “Am I ashamed to speak on behalf of a less than perfect country? Find me a better one. Do I suppose there are societies which are free of sin? No, I don’t. Do I think ours is, on balance, incomparably the most hopeful set of human relations the world has? Yes, I do. Have we done obscene things? Yes, we have. How did our people learn about them? They learned about them on television and in the newspapers.” And we put our criminals – whether in uniform or not – on trial. Why we fight is, indeed, as important as how we fight. So how have we fought? We need some context and perspective. Our enemy attacked us on September 11 in disguise, not in uniform, not in marked warplanes from an enemy country. Rather, unlike Pearl Harbor, our enemies trained abroad, moved here, lived here under the guise of loyalty, and used civilian aircraft and civilian tactics to kill as many innocents as possible. Also, unlike Pearl Harbor, their targets were not military but civilian. And, unlike Pearl Harbor, it appears much of the money used to finance our enemies came from money raised in the U.S. and from money raised in countries that are purported allies of the U.S. How did we respond? Yes, there was our abuse at Abu Ghraib. But as John Stuart Mill wrote, “There is no difficulty in proving any ethical standard whatever to work ill, if we suppose universal idiocy to be conjoined with it.” Thankfully, the idiocy was that of a handful, and not universal. But, we have not – as Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and the great liberal Earl Warren, did – established internment camps for over 100,000 U.S. citizens whose only crime was looking like people we were at war with in another country. We have not engaged in racial profiling. We have given trials to those who claim abuses of our post – 9/11 system. And we have even released prisoners from Guantanamo – to our detriment, as we now learn that four of those we’ve released have rejoined al Qaeda in Afghanistan, where, we also note, violence is now again on the rise. This administrations record on civil liberties, on profiling, on respect for minorities, is receiving far too little attention. Why, for example, are we never reminded – that the head of the U.S. Central Command, the person who now holds the position previously held by Norman Schwartzkopf and Tommy Franks, is an Arab American? Our enemy is horrid, wicked, inhuman. Those are the adjectives for 9/11, and for 5/11. Not “Inhumane,” as some of our soldiers acted at Abu Ghraib. Inhuman. The moral equivalence, and the adjectival equivalence, needs to end now. May 11th is a day we need to remember. That is the day Muntada al-Ansar showed the beheading of Nick Berg. That is the day we were reminded of what on British parliamentarian said was the “undiluted barbarism” we face in this war. We have shocked, disrupted, killed, and arrested the leadership of al Qaeda. But al Qaeda, as Corine Hegland wrote in the National Journal, is a virus more than a corporation. It is an evil virus. And how do you live with evil? You don’t. Yale professor David Gelernter put it well on my radio show two days ago: “We can’t share the earth with pure evil anymore than we can share the earth with smallpox.” Here is some of what he slaughterers of Nick Berg said at the time of his beheading: “Tidings of dawn and winds of victory have begun, for God has honored us with roaring victory in Fallujah …. As for you Bush, dog of the Christians, anticipate what will harm you….you will only get shroud after shroud and coffin after coffin slaughtered in this manner.” These quotes should be commonplace, to rouse us. I think most of America is unfamiliar with these words, and so many other statements of the enemy we face now. They think they have won Fallujah, and they think they are going to win this war. They are not going to win this war. So that they don’t win, we need to escalate our efforts and put an end to terrorism in Iraq. We need to make clear that we will now win in Fallujah. And, we need to take out Moqtada al-Sadr in Najaf. Earlier this month we bombed al-Sadr’s office in Baghdad. But symbolism does not work with this enemy. Baghdad is not where al-Sadr was. We need to bomb him in Najaf, where he lives, whether it is in a mosque or not. A mosque loses its significance once the enemy makes it a military outpost; and once they do make it a military outpost, we should treat it as such – and take it out! Once ewe show them we are intent on winning, then they will see who the strong horse is; and they will not treat Americans like this any longer: a) because they will be dead, and b) because we will discourage further acts of terrorism by our show of seriousness. I take bin Laden at his word: You show people a strong horse, and you sow them a weak horse, and they will pick the strong horse every time – if they can still pick at all. Being a strong horse includes how we act at home as well as abroad. We recently began a military hearing for Army Specialist Ryan Anderson, from Washington State. As on report put it, Anderson is “charged with four counts of attempting to provide al Qaeda with information about U.S. troop strength and tactics, as well as methods for killing Army personnel.” Anderson is not numb, and he is not dumb. He is a 2002 graduate from Washington State University and a convert to Islam. Anderson is 26 and faces the death penalty. If found guilty, he deserves it. Nicholas Berg was 26 years old as well – and he received a different kind of death penalty. Berg died because he was an American, doing his best to help peaceful Arabs and Muslims build a democracy. Anderson may receive the death penalty because he was trying to help Islamo-fascists kill as many peaceful Americans as possible. Upon reading both of their biographies, I was drawn again to Plato’s Georgias, where we are reminded that it is better to suffer injustice than to commit injustice. It is better to die as Nicholas Berg than it will be to die as Ryan Anderson, should he receive the death penalty. And it is better to be Nicholas Berg in death than Ryan Anderson in life. We learn a great deal from our losses; we learn even more form loss than from gain. Right after 9/11, the nation was united in its grief and united in its desire to prevent another attack. We need to re-summon that moment. We are in war. And though it may not feel or look like wartime here, in America, our enemies are not resting. It is wartime for them. We need to grieve the loss of Nicholas Berg, along with all our brave men and women overseas. We need to thank them. And, now, more than ever, we need – as Shakespeare wrote – to “make medicines of our great revenge” and fight for them, for ourselves, and for the last, best hope of Earth. Hope you thought it was good. Talk to you soon BCJ |W|P|109498619897968147|W|P|The Article I was talking about|W|P|calvin3ztt@gmail.com9/14/2004 04:53:00 PM|W|P| Anonymous|W|P|Lieber Brad.

Ich habe mir den Artikel durchgelesen und ich stimmt auch mit einigen Argumenten überein, aber genau wie der Autor die Presse verurteilt, einseitig zu berichten, genauso berichtet er selbst einseitig und sehr propagandistisch.

Es wird immer so sein, dass man einem "Pro" ein "Contra" als Beispiel gegenüberstellen kann, denn der Autor kann mich nicht überzeugen, dass Amerika als politische und militärische Macht ein Engel auf Erden ist. Sorry, aber dafür haben die Obersten Entscheidungsträger und ihre Handlanger zu viel Dreck am Stecken und auch zu viele Privatinteressen oder sonst etwas verfolgt. So heilige Schafe, wie der Autor uns waismachen möchte, sind das nicht gerade.

Macht bedeutet immer Verantwortung und sie wird oft missbraucht, auch im Amerika, davon bin ich überzeugt.

Allerdings bin ich sehr wohl der Meinung, dass Faschisten, Fanatiker und Terroristen ganz feige Schweine sind, die sich an hilflosen Menschen vergreifen, nur weil sie nicht an die Grossen herankommen und eigentlich gar keine Macht haben.

Es ist ja auch gut, für die Freiheit und den Aufbau im Irak zu kämpfen, aber was bedeutet "Freiheit"? Welche "Freiheit" wollen die Menschen im Irak, die normale Bevölkerung? Sie wird auch von dem organisierten Vormarsch bevormundet. Sie muss als "gut" anerkennen, was Amerika für "gut" hält. Vielleicht sind die Menschen aber nicht mit allen Entscheidungen und Neuerung einverstanden? Vielleicht empfinden sie das neue System nicht in allen Einzelheiten als besser?! Ich finde, man darf die ganze Situation nicht einseitig betrachten.

Allerdings ist das auch wieder ein Punkt: Die Medien. Sie berichten oftmals einseitig und sehr manipulativ. Welche Interessen verfolgen sie? Sind sie sich ihrer Verantwortung überhaupt bewusst? Sie sollten es sein, aber eine objektive Berichterstattung mit allen "Für" und "Widern" wird man wohl nie bekommen. Es ist nicht einfach, sich aus dem Sumpf der Berichterstattung eine "objektive" Meinung zu bilden. Vielleicht ist es sogar unmöglich.

Ein Argument hat mir jedoch gefallen. Egal, was wir für eine Herkunft oder Ausbildung haben, unsere Entscheidungen werden noch immer von unserem eigenen Menschenverstand und Willen geprägt und der sollte nicht verloren gehen. Was ethisch richtig oder falsch ist, dass müssen wir im Grunde selber wissen, da darf man sich nicht mit vorgeschobenen Gründen herausreden.

Nunja, ich bin vielleicht etwas kritisch, aber ich kann den Artikel nicht so einfach hinnehmen, wie er geschrieben wurde. Er wirft viele Fragen auf, gibt aber auch sehr interessante neue Einblicke (gerade in Bezug auf die Lebensläufe verschiedener Leute) und stimmt nachdenklich. Danke, es war keine schlechte Idee, ihn ins Netz zu stellen.

Ich hoffe, es geht dir privat sonst auch gut. Wahrscheinlich hast du keine Zeit meine etwas sehr langen Mails zu lesen, aber ich bin aus Österreich und Berlin zurück und nur noch etwas müde, ansonsten bin ich auch froh, wieder in Zürich zu sein. Vielleicht sehen wir uns irgendwann noch einmal wieder.

Liebe Grüsse,
deine Ulrike9/14/2004 04:54:00 PM|W|P| Anonymous|W|P|Brad,

It's a relief to hear from you again. All I can think about lately is seeing you when you come home on leave. I've told you before, but I want to remind you how proud I am of you, for having the courage and strength to be able to do what you're doing. You make me so happy and I am so in love with you. I feel very lucky to have you in my life.

If you get a chance to call anytime soon, Maya has something she wants to tell you. I know how hard it is to make phone calls, so don't worry about it if it's too much trouble. Also, I got 100% on my first Math quiz :) Since I suck so much at math, I was very proud of myself.

I love you with all my heart and the family is thinking of you everyday. We can't wait to hear from you again.

Elizabeth9/10/2004 09:01:00 PM|W|P|Bradley Jones|W|P|Well, I am back to glorious Samarra the -4 star resort which will be showing up in Frommer's guide to Iraq next month!! It is actually kind of nice to get back here and away from some of the monotonous tasks that are required in Tikrit. Training was good and bad at the same time. There were so many glitches with the training it almost doesn't qualify as training. We had to start solving problems and issues the day after we arrived starting with the fact that the trainer was bumped from his flight and didn't arrive ontime. A couple of the others that were there for the training and I did a lot of running around and dealing with people we would have rather just avoided all together but the end result was pretty good. I have met some more people and made some good acquaintances. I was told indirectly that some people stateside are really interested in meeting me, as they have seen my resume. I plan on updating it soon actually but it is sounding as if my R&R trip will be pretty successful. I am really really really looking forward to being in the states for a little while. I am getting really tired of my job here. That's just me being tired is all. I will post an article that I found in a magazine tomorrow which is kind of long so I recommend copying it and printing it off or saving it to a text document to read at your leisure. Well, I really don't know what else to talk about tonight. I am working 12 hour shifts for a couple days and am getting pretty tired already even though this is only my second night of it. Well, I hope you are all doing well and am sorry that I haven't posted any photos but the military computer system is censored quite a bit and the program I have to use to post pictures is blocked by the military. I am getting some help from outside sources to circumvent this measure and hopefully will be able to post pictures soon. Talk to you all later. BCJ |W|P|109483706836736670|W|P|I'm Back in Samarra WOOOHOOO!|W|P|calvin3ztt@gmail.com9/11/2004 02:35:00 AM|W|P| Anonymous|W|P|Hey Jonesy,
Glad to hear you are in such a good mood!!!! Keep up on all the contacts it will help you a great deal here. Hope you are doing well and I'm thinking about you. Nothing new to post really but take care and tell everyone I said hello. Take care..jess9/13/2004 04:49:00 PM|W|P| Anonymous|W|P|Hi Bub,

So glad to finally hear from you again. Hope the time away went quickly. Sounds like you turned a few heads again and made some good contacts. You're awesome. Was everything OK when you got back? Do you have permanent quarters yet? Hopefully your are a little more set up and have a bunk now. 12 hour shifts doesn't leave much time for anything but rest. T minus 5 months and counting !
Think of you daily, and look forward to your postings. Cards, letters and a box on its way to you !
all my love,
Mom