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Fifth Column | |
Anti-War Parents and Military Kids in Iraq | |
2003-12-08 | |
It must be strange to be Anthony Lopercio of the US Armyâs 82nd Airborne Division. The 23-year-old private has been dispatched to Fallujah to stand in the front line on what is, for any American, one of the most hostile places in the world. Yet, as he gazes across the dreary Iraqi landscape, feeling the sullen resentment of its population towards foreign occupation, he will not only be wondering about the guerrillas out there. He will also be watching for the portly frame of his father. Not long ago, Michael Lopercio, a 51-year-old restaurateur from Tempe, Arizona, decided that he was not happy with the quality of the news he was receiving about the war into which his son had been drawn. He also realized that if the conflict dragged on, so would the amount of time that his boy would have to remain in Iraq, where hundreds of young Americans have already died. So he packed his bags and set off to Baghdad to find out for himself what was happening, and to see if there was anything he could do about it. "We havenât been getting the full story in the US," he said. "The media is covering events - shootings and bombings - but not the issues. They are not covering what is really happening to Iraqi people and to the Iraqi infrastructure and how this affects our chances of success here. Itâs very important to understand the frustration of the average Iraqi and how unhappy they are with their progress over the last eight months." The news that his father was coming to join him in the conflict zone was a surprise for Private Lopercio. "He was utterly shocked when I called him," said Mr Lopercio. He has yet to gain permission to see his son but hopes it will come before he returns to the United States this weekend. "It took five minutes to convince him I wasnât playing a practical joke. But he was pretty excited for me. I thought he might be disapproving, but he said he thought it would be an incredible experience for me." His son was right. Mr Lopercio has found it incredible. Incredible that, eight months after the invasion and occupation began, children are still dying in Iraqi hospitals through a lack of antibiotics. Incredible that schools have no lights, no heating, no books. And incredible that, while he has been in Iraq this week, the occupation authorities have staged an expensive public relations stunt by removing the monolithic stone busts of Saddam Hussein that stood on the top of the palace in which Paul Bremer, the chief US administrator, has his headquarters. "Why the hell are they wasting money taking down those heads of Saddam from the coalition authorityâs palace when they could be spending it on something more meaningful, like bringing heat and light and medicine to Iraqi hospitals?" asks Mr Lopercio. His mission required courage, not only because of the dangers of being an American in Iraq: his willingness to challenge his countryâs reasons for going to war, and its disastrous handling of the aftermath of the invasion, has not gone down particularly well in Arizona. He says conservative radio talk shows have begun attacking his wife, a social worker, after she gave interviews to the newspapers about his trip. "They have been reading out the interviews on the air, and giving her a hard time. Sheâs a little scared, and out of her element, to be sure." He is one of a delegation of nine family members of US soldiers and army veterans who have come to Iraq, led by the San Francisco-based human rights group Global Exchange. Most of the group opposes the occupation, while others say they simply want to see the situation for themselves. Among the group is Billy Kelly, a 60-year-old retired New York barman who fought in Vietnam in 1967. He said: "There is not a day that goes by when I donât think about what happened there 35 years ago." He had, he said, come to check out a suspicion that what is playing out in Iraq has similarities to his own grim experience in uniform. He, too, has had a hard time for his stance, not least because he is from the city that was the principal target of the 9/11 atrocities. "Some of my friends say that Iâm a traitor. But I feel that people can accept me, or not. My hope is just that there will be a dialogue about whatâs going on. It hasnât happened yet. At the moment, we have a diatribe from one side or the other." Anabelle Valencia, from Tucson, Arizona, had tried to visit her daughter, Giselle Valencia, who is an army truck driver stationed in Tikrit. But she was on a mission, and not at the base.
Another member of the group is Fernando Suarez del Solar. His son Jesus Alberto, a US Marine, was one of the first Americans to be killed in Iraq - the victim of an American cluster bomb. He has become a vocal opponent of George Bushâs policy in Iraq, denouncing the invasion as illegal and demanding the immediate withdrawal of troops. "Our mission is talking to ordinary Iraqis and US troops, figuring out why things have gone so terribly wrong and what we can do to stop the violence and bring the troops home," he said. The delegation represents an increasingly organised minority I must preface my statement that I have not personally been to Iraq and all I have to rely on is the âBush spinâ on matter on the ground. But I think Mr Lopercio could have easily found a village or town that is lacking in many of the things we take for granted. Just because there is a town, hospital, or school that doesnât have EVERYTHING imaginable doesnât mean the policy is flawed. Some of these âHospitalsâ are nothing more than a glorified band-aid station. Iâll bet they didnât have the âproperâ medications before the invasion and donât have them now. I would venture to say that the Iraqi administration is not bending over backwards to make sure that Fullajah has everything it needs. They seem to have plenty of bombs and RPGs! Mr Suarez del Solar: I canât imagine his pain but he really needs some counseling. He sounds like he is really is going over the top. Having a dozen or so people show up in Iraq will NOT cure the problems in that country. Additionally, the presence of a dozen or so Anti-War activist will not cause the U.S. to turn around and leave Iraq. To believe this really is delusional. I still suspect that this man is being used by MoveOn and Global Exchange. P.S. I wonder how they (anti-war/U.S. gang) would feel if we paraded some 9/11 widows and some Iraqi victims in front of the camera to make our point that terrorism and Saddam are bad things? You know the answer. | |
Posted by:Cyber Sarge (VRWC CA Chapter) |
#11 Michael Lopercio says, "they are not covering what is really happening to Iraqi people and to the Iraqi infrastructure and how this affects our chances of success here. Itâs very important to understand the frustration of the average Iraqi and how unhappy they are with their progress over the last eight months." Well, since the guy went all the way to discover information available on a host of blogs what is his recommendation to improve things? If he visited Santiago, Chile, he might find many of the same problems. I, personally, am banking on the Iraqis waking up out of their nightmare and beginning to get things rolling, economically. I think that will be the jewell of the Middle East within 10 years. |
Posted by: Super Hose 2003-12-8 6:08:13 PM |
#10 Ah! Okay... I was looking at the URL snellenr posted. Yes.. hmmm.. |
Posted by: Shipman 2003-12-8 5:26:00 PM |
#9 Whoa! Which website? I was looking at (I think) Camp Pendletons? I'm missing something. |
Posted by: Shipman 2003-12-8 5:24:16 PM |
#8 JFM -- I've been getting the impression that lots of Mexican fascists admire (or at least profess to) the Aztecs. For example, La Raza and the Aztlan nutcases. |
Posted by: Robert Crawford 2003-12-8 4:31:10 PM |
#7 Shipman Moctezuma had thousands and thousands like him. But bravery is not a substitute for military competence and adequate weapons. At that time the Spanish soldiers were head and shoulders above the rest of Europe (eight centuries battling the Moors had sharpened their tactics). In addition wooden maces emebedded with sharpend stones were useless against Spanish armor while Toledan swords easily pierced cotton armor. Read "Carnage and culture" by Victor David Hanson for a complete discussion. Note: I read Spanish and I have visited the site of this guy and my conclusion is that he is a fascist. He regrets the Aztecs who had the habit of sacrifying thousands and thousands people (eighty thousand in one ocacsion): the reason the Aztec empire fell to a few hundred Spanish is that everyone else hated them. But this guy loves them. |
Posted by: JFM 2003-12-8 3:52:19 PM |
#6 âHe was proud to be a Marine, but he wanted to be remembered as an Aztec Warrior Marine,â Fernando Suarez del Solar, his father. âUpon graduating bootcamp he went to Tijuana and bought a small shrine of an Aztec warrior and said âfather this is me.ââ Snellenr If Montezuma had a few more of these guys we'd be using a round calendar. |
Posted by: Shipman 2003-12-8 2:15:58 PM |
#5 Nitpicking, sure, but if the "reporter" can't get that kind of detail right, I wonder about his honesty. Note that the source of this story is the Independent, another of the UK's left-wing papers. |
Posted by: Zhang Fei 2003-12-8 1:45:07 PM |
#4 the occupation authorities have staged an expensive public relations stunt by removing the monolithic stone busts of Saddam Hussein Weren't they really cast bronze? Nitpicking, sure, but if the "reporter" can't get that kind of detail right, I wonder about his honesty. Seriously, if it was a "publicity stunt", it should have been dirt-simple to check the information. |
Posted by: Robert Crawford 2003-12-8 1:31:40 PM |
#3 Found a description of the corporal's memorial service at Camp Pendleton's website. I hesitated to post the link, but the father comments that the *only* reason they came to the U.S. (from Mexico) was his son's desire (from the age of 10) to be a Marine. It sounds like he would have been very vulnerable to groups like Global Exchange (who suck for exploiting that vulnerability). |
Posted by: snellenr 2003-12-8 12:43:15 PM |
#2 I feel sorry for these kids. I only hope they don't come to feel the amount of contempt for their parents that a lot soldiers feel about these people. |
Posted by: BH 2003-12-8 12:28:14 PM |
#1 Mr Suarez del Solar: I canât imagine his pain but he really needs some counseling. He sounds like he is really is going over the top. This comes as no surprise - many immigrants from Latin America are fiercely anti-American, but their children are (usually) very patriotic. (That's the beauty of America - assimilation in one generation). This is why the military has a large Hispanic contingent. |
Posted by: Zhang Fei 2003-12-8 12:08:40 PM |