Five years of war

Area residents reflect on its impact

Rae Kruger




He’d return to Iraq if his National Guard unit was called back but there is a group of peace activists in Marshall that doesn’t want him to go back

Staff Sgt. Tim Green is the readiness coordinator of the Battery A, 1st Battalion, 151st National Guard Unit in Marshall. He, along with more than 150 soldiers from that unit, were deployed to Iraq more than four years ago. The unit returned about three years ago.

This week was the fifth anniversary of the war and, Green knows, he’d return if his unit was called.

“It’s amazing. You want to go. Everybody wants to go if the unit goes back, you want to go back,” Green said.

The U.S. can’t pull all its troops out because much is being accomplished, Green said. Even so, he knows his wife and two sons wouldn’t want him to go back, Green said.

“It’s disappointing we are still there,” said Char Hmurovich of Marshall. “It’s disappointing for the Iraqis who are suffering in their homeland. It’s disappointing for our troops and their families...”

Hmurovich is a member of the Marshall Area Peace Seekers. MAPS has protested the war since before it started. The group gathers each Tuesday at the intersection of Main Street and College Drive.

After five years, the public wants a change, said Dr. Tom Williford, a history professor at Southwest Minnesota State University in Marshall.

“I don’t think the U.S. (public) can stomach much more of the operation,” Williford said. “I think the public still finds the situation confusing.”

But Williford added some form of U.S. presence will be needed in Iraq. When the war started five years ago, Williford said it was expected a troop presence would be needed in Iraq for five or more years.

“It’s incredible with all the disinformation (we’ve learned) why we are still there,” said Stewart Day of Minneota, MAPS member. “It’s just astounding to me, we still don’t think we know why we are there.”

The public is confused, has questions and concerns and has ties to those who are fighting in Iraq, Williford said.

Williford’s brother is in the Naval Reserves and the family waited for him to be deployed. His brother was deployed, but to Latin America.

“(The Iraq war) effects every family in the U.S.,” Williford said. “Everybody has a friend, family member, knows someone who was or is in Iraq. We have students who have served in Iraq (at SMSU).”

The war and responses to it are complex, Williford said.

“It’s a pretty personal kind of issue,” Williford said.

Nola Blanchette said she’s noticed a change in the public’s response to the MAPs weekly protests.

“We get a lot of cheers and thumbs up that we didn’t get before,” Blanchette said.

Green said it’s evident the war is at the public forefront because it’s a topic during this year’s election season.

No party seems to have the best solution, Green said.

“I definitely worry about the elections,” Green said. “Sometimes I think the Republicans will have us there forever. Sometimes I think, then again if the Democrats are elected, is that necessarily good because we’d downsize to where it wouldn’t be good or we pull out (everyone).”

Green’s statement is a good summary of the challenges of the future of Iraq, Williford said — stay, go, or something in the middle?

“We will be there until we get a strong enough president to pull us out,” Bernie Hmurovich said. Bernie Hmurovich is a member of MAPS who did two tours of duty in Vietnam.

“We need to be there until it’s over,” local Guard family readiness official Jeff Gay said. “It’s complicated...all I know the troops that are over there are doing their job to the best of their ability.”

Time, money and lives lost are main reasons opponents of the war want to see changes.

At least $500 billion has been spent on the war during the past five years, The Associated Press reported this month. The AP also cited studies that show spending will rise to $12 billion a month each month in 2008. Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz drew attention this month with a new book that said total war spending could top $2 trillion.

“We could have taken that money and invested it the right way,” Bernie Hmurovich said. “We should have spent that money to resolve (the Iraq situation) peacefully. Spend the money on things we all want, clothes, food, water, shelter...”

“You can’t deny Saddam Hussein was an evil man but was this the way to get the regime change?” Williford said.

Hussein was also responsible for some of the destruction in Iraq, Williford said.

And, “George W. Bush really believed when he set out he could do (what he planned),” Williford said.

“This is just my opinion, from Sgt. Green, and not the National Guard, but the people there were so suppressed. They were ruled with an iron fist,” Green said. “We gave them so much freedom and so much humanitarian aid I don’t think they really understood freedom in their country.”

The 151st unit from Marshall trained police in Iraq from December of 2004 to November of 2005.

“It took a full year,” Green said. “When we got there, they wouldn’t even wear the uniform. They were afraid of getting shot (for being police).”

Gradually, the trained Iraqis wore the uniforms and became involved in acting as police with their own people, he said. They had to trust the American troops, trust each other and the public had to trust them, Green said.

“I think they are finally doing it,” Green said of the Iraqi people learning to govern themselves and embrace their freedom.

But, while a surge in troops has helped the situation, the U.S. is left with more moral questions than winning a war questions, Williford said.

The U.S. military and public do not want another Vietnam, Williford said.

“What moral obligation does the U.S. have to Iraq?” Williford said.

And what moral obligation does it have to troops like those from the Marshall National Guard unit who served there, Williford said.

“Fighting terrorism in Iraq is very important,” Williford said. But the best way to fight in the future may be more through rebuilding the country and not focusing on winning a war, he said.

If the U.S. pulls out entirely or too much too soon it leaves a country vulnerable like Afghanistan was, Williford said. Terrorists groups like al- Qaeda can establish themselves in Iraq as terrorists did in Afghanistan, Williford said.

What about the Iraqi people who helped troops as interpreters and in other ways and the people with whom troops made connections, Williford said.

The U.S. military has been working at rebuilding a nation for the past five years but it will likely need to be a more primary focus, he said.

The estimated $500 billion cost of the war has raised questions but to Williford a bigger question involves a scandal that doesn’t get much attention.

What happened to the nearly $3 trillion spent for rebuilding Iraq that was given to contractors, many from the U.S., Williford said.

“Why hasn’t that money made the changes?” Williford said. Whether or not a person supports the war, the question should be answered for taxpayers and troops, Williford said.

“I tell you what, it’s hard to believe it’s been three years,” Green said of the time since his unit was deployed to Iraq. “Some things are just stuck in your head so clear, it’s like a year ago.”

Green recalled that during one of his first weeks back, he was asked about condiments for an upcoming guard training drill weekend.

“I thought ‘I could care less about condiments,’” Green said. “It just didn’t seem important.”

Reintegration to civilian life for guard troops and even returning home for regular military was tough, Gay and Green said.

“There are a fair number of issues, no question about it,” Green said of challenges which face returned troops in the region and the state, as well as families.

Despite the transition being tough, many soldiers made the adjustment successfully, but some didn’t, they said.

“A lot of soldiers go back to their job and they are bored with it,” Green said.

Some take new jobs, go to school or are anxious to deploy again, Green said.

The soldier too anxious to deploy again is talked with, Green and Gay said. It’s important the soldier wants to return for the right reasons and not avoidance or some other factor, they said.

“Some change, it depends on the action they’ve seen,” Green said. “We’ve had soldiers with some issues. Most of it has been alcohol-related.”

Gay works with soldiers or families who made need counseling or other resources. He can work on a confidential basis and only needs to inform the military if there has been violence or there is a risk of violence, Gay said.

He’s seen alcohol abuse, depression, domestic violence and other issues, Gay said.

And sometimes, it’s just young soldiers doing silly things that young people do, Green said.

But Gay and Green said they’ve also seen maturity in soldiers who left young and returned much more mature. These soldiers may often leave an old group of friends or return to or start college. They may be more mature in a family or other relationship, Gay and Green said.

Green said he came back from Iraq different. “I’m not nearly as picky or I don’t get as upset at little things,” he said.

Too many soldiers and their families have suffered in five years, Day said.

“The costs in American lives is just mind-boggling,” Day said.

It’s the soldiers and their families and the Iraqi people she thinks of when she stands on the corner with a sign against the war, Char Hmurovich said.

MAPS has offered babysitting, phone cards and other assistance to family members of deployed troops, Hmurovich said.

Troops and their families have also supported each other during the past five years, Gay and Green said.

The Family Assistance Center including Gay and volunteers, plus families and troops have provided assistance with financial issues, plumbing issues and other things that come up when a family member is deployed, Green and Gay said.





rkruger@marshallindependent.com