Ltr from Major Keith Stone in Iraq 020205

From: Waspscpo@aol.com
Sent: Wednesday, February 02, 2005 9:16 AM To: undisclosed-recipients:
Subject: Ltr from Major Keith Stone in Iraq

Subj: Date: 2/2/2005 7:44:10 AM Eastern Standard Time
From: mjkorman@yahoo.com 
To: waspscpo@aol.com 
CC: keith.stone@us.army.mil
 Sent from the Internet (Details)

Hello Don,

Mike Korman here, I thought you might like to forward this note to you list. Keith Stone is a good friend of mine, he's been in Iraq nearly 1 year. He comes home soon. I copied him on this email and his address is: keith.stone@us.army.mil , as for me I deploy to Iraq in just a few short days following a "yard period" at Fort Benning.

Take good care my friend and keep up the good work.

Yours, Mike Korman EQCM(SCW)

Iraq just experienced a very important day. The people of Iraq just participated in free elections. Well, they were almost free. Many Iraqis paid with their lives.

The morning of the 30th, soldiers from the 1st Cavalry Division positioned their Bradley on the corner of a Baghdad intersection. They had been briefed to expect violence, and were well versed in the Rules of Engagement for US Forces. The streets were empty. Just before the polls opened, a group of Iraqis came down the street toward the Bradley. The gunner in the turret thought that it was a riot, but didn’t fire. As the crowd came closer, many of the Iraqis approached the Bradley gunner yelling, “Thank you, mister.” They recognized that it was the presence of that US soldier standing in that Bradley with his machinegun at the ready that made it possible for them to vote in relative security.

Eight suicide bombers hit in our AO around the Baghdad area. Here’s what the reaction was at one of those sites: The election officials and US troops evacuated the wounded and the dead, cleaned up the mess, and opened up for business again about an hour later. As the voters left the polling station after voting, they spit on the remains of the bomber.

That particular suicide bomber was from Egypt. Many of the others that have hit in the area have been from Jordan, Syria, and Iran. One of my Iraqi friends once told me, “Iraqi people don’t blow themselves up with suicide vests. We’ll shoot at you, sure, but we’re not going to kill ourselves to kill you.” He was half-joking when he said it, but he made a good point. Most of the problems that we’ve had in Iraq have not been from the Iraqi people. Iraq is in a unique position to be a democratic state, and that scares much of the Muslim community. The Iraqi people are excited about it!

The Iraqi people will soon have a voice to allow them to participate in the process that will shape the new Iraq. It will be interesting to hear what that voice has to say.

Major Keith Stone Baghdad International Airport Baghdad, Iraq

Mike Korman
(414) 202-9655