US Marine (Republican) Killed In Iraq Left Many Emails Typifying His Frustration

[Psychoblues]

Robert Secher had a passion for history. Until his death in Iraq on Oct. 8, the 33-year-old Marine could recount all the major battles of the Civil War. He studied the Holocaust, in which members of his father's family lost their lives. In recent e-mails home, he said he was reading about Vietnam and the Mexican civil war. But his favorite books were on ancient Rome: he was captivated by the centurions, who commanded from the front and led by example. ... His job there was one of the toughest in Iraq: making raw Iraqi recruits ready and able to take over the fight against the militants. Secher found the task exasperating and often discouraging; in e-mails and letters home, he expressed doubt that the Iraqi military would ever be ready for a handover, and criticized the way the Bush administration had directed the war.

more:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15458906/site/newsweek/

Psychoblues

 

[trobinett]

Robert Secher had a passion for history. Until his death in Iraq on Oct. 8, the 33-year-old Marine could recount all the major battles of the Civil War. He studied the Holocaust, in which members of his father's family lost their lives. In recent e-mails home, he said he was reading about Vietnam and the Mexican civil war. But his favorite books were on ancient Rome: he was captivated by the centurions, who commanded from the front and led by example. ... His job there was one of the toughest in Iraq: making raw Iraqi recruits ready and able to take over the fight against the militants. Secher found the task exasperating and often discouraging; in e-mails and letters home, he expressed doubt that the Iraqi military would ever be ready for a handover, and criticized the way the Bush administration had directed the war.

more:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15458906/site/newsweek/

Psychoblues

Interesting article Psycho, and yes, it has been extensively edited, though I'm sure it was for space concerns.

I'm not really sure what point your trying to make, if any, by the posting of this piece. This young warrior makes it clear, that he supports the war in Iraq, and even though he finds his work frustrating at times, he believes in what he's doing.

I'm saddened when America's best are lost in combat, but I'm angered when people try to "use" them for political gain.

 

[Psychoblues]

I ain't running or stumping for anyone, trobinett. What in hell are you talking about?

Interesting article Psycho, and yes, it has been extensively edited, though I'm sure it was for space concerns.

I'm not really sure what point your trying to make, if any, by the posting of this piece. This young warrior makes it clear, that he supports the war in Iraq, and even though he finds his work frustrating at times, he believes in what he's doing.

I'm saddened when America's best are lost in combat, but I'm angered when people try to "use" them for political gain.

Your anger or saddnesswill never trump my own.

Psychoblues

 

[trobinett]

Psycho asks:

I ain't running or stumping for anyone, trobinett. What in hell are you talking about?

I thought I made myself clear Psycho.

We ALL have agenda's Psycho, and yours is to find fault with our WOT, and the current administration in particular.

So, to use the death of a soldier to further YOUR AGENDA angers me, got it now?:read:

 

[Psychoblues]

I have also made myself clear on this issue many times. Just for old time sakes I will try and clarify just once more. My agenda is not to find fault with any genuine War On Terror. My agenda is to actually fight a War On Terror. It is real and it is now. The current WAR ON TERROR was given up years ago as we drew down our troops in pursuit of the Al Queda and the Taliban. We were winning then. But, we went into Iraq and claimed it as the primary front on the WAR ON TERROR. That is what I condemn. I could write you a book as to why I feel that way.

The objection that I have with the current administration is that they have little tolerance for disagreement and all be damned in their pursuit of the truth as only they see it. No question about it, they will even blatantly lie and cost thousands of American lives to somehow prove their point.

Psycho asks:



I thought I made myself clear Psycho.

We ALL have agenda's Psycho, and yours is to find fault with our WOT, and the current administration in particular.

So, to use the death of a soldier to further YOUR AGENDA angers me, got it
now?:read:

The Soldier knew instinctively what was happening. Somehow it is YOU tha tuses his death as a tool for the advancement of such a ficticious agenda.

Psychoblues

 

[Avatar4321]

We are fighting the war on terror. I dont know why you leftists want to detach Iraq from the over all war, but they are one and the same. When you try to undermine Iraq you are trying to undermine the war on terror.

BTW just because a Marine was frustrated about the time it was taking to get things done doesnt mean that it shouldnt be done. You are lucky this marine isnt here, because he would probably kick your @$$ for trying to use him to undermine what he has done.

 

[Psychoblues]

Avatar4321, Millions of Americans were unconvinced in 2003 that Iraq had anything to do with the War On Terror. All of us and now millions more remain unconvinced.

We are fighting the war on terror. I dont know why you leftists want to detach Iraq from the over all war, but they are one and the same. When you try to undermine Iraq you are trying to undermine the war on terror.

BTW just because a Marine was frustrated about the time it was taking to get things done doesnt mean that it shouldnt be done. You are lucky this marine isnt here, because he would probably kick your @$$ for trying to use him to undermine what he has done.

Faulty information and wild eyed assumptions do not impress us.

Psychoblues

 

[Avatar4321]

Avatar4321, Millions of Americans were unconvinced in 2003 that Iraq had anything to do with the War On Terror. All of us and now millions more remain unconvinced.



Faulty information and wild eyed assumptions do not impress us.

Psychoblues

If you want to deny the obvious, go ahead. But not all of us are that stupid and ignorant.

 

[Annie]

Robert Secher had a passion for history. Until his death in Iraq on Oct. 8, the 33-year-old Marine could recount all the major battles of the Civil War. He studied the Holocaust, in which members of his father's family lost their lives. In recent e-mails home, he said he was reading about Vietnam and the Mexican civil war. But his favorite books were on ancient Rome: he was captivated by the centurions, who commanded from the front and led by example. ... His job there was one of the toughest in Iraq: making raw Iraqi recruits ready and able to take over the fight against the militants. Secher found the task exasperating and often discouraging; in e-mails and letters home, he expressed doubt that the Iraqi military would ever be ready for a handover, and criticized the way the Bush administration had directed the war.

more:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15458906/site/newsweek/

Psychoblues

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15458906/site/newsweek/

Thanks for posting that Psycho, you inadvertently highlight 'someone you should know,' though of course you assumed everyone would just take your edited version. Instead what we find is that unlike what Kerry said yesterday, some of the most intelligent are serving in Iraq, indeed all over the world in our military today.

They see the mistakes, more importantly they see the hope and willingly lay it all on the line:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15458906/site/newsweek/

Quote under picture: "Weary Warrior: ‘This war is futile,’ wrote Secher after three months in Iraq. But he still believed in it."

By Dan Ephron and Christian Caryl
Newsweek

Nov. 6, 2006 issue - Robert Secher had a passion for history. Until his death in Iraq on Oct. 8, the 33-year-old Marine could recount all the major battles of the Civil War. He studied the Holocaust, in which members of his father's family lost their lives. In recent e-mails home, he said he was reading about Vietnam and the Mexican civil war. But his favorite books were on ancient Rome: he was captivated by the centurions, who commanded from the front and led by example. "He talked about being a soldier since he was 6 years old," his mother, Elke Morris, told NEWSWEEK last week. "He wanted to be tested in battle." Secher signed up for the Marines when he was 17. He served on the Afghan border after the attacks of September 11 and later pressed for a transfer to the front lines in Iraq. He ended up in the insurgents' largest stronghold, Anbar province.

His job there was one of the toughest in Iraq: making raw Iraqi recruits ready and able to take over the fight against the militants. Secher found the task exasperating and often discouraging; in e-mails and letters home, he expressed doubt that the Iraqi military would ever be ready for a handover, and criticized the way the Bush administration had directed the war. "Without the U.S., this army will fail and get eaten alive by the insurgents," he told his father in an e-mail this past April. Chatting with a friend during a brief leave five months later, he spoke of suspicions that some of his trainees were loyal to Moqtada al-Sadr and would have no compunction about betraying their American instructors if the radical Shiite cleric told them to.

At other times Captain Secher's messages expressed fondness for his Iraqi trainees and respect for their courage. He was no pacifist. His parents describe him as an unswerving Republican, and his own dispatches consistently defend the invasion of Iraq even as he anguishes over its dwindling prospects of success. "Don't mistake us for Cindy Sheehan," Pierre Secher told NEWSWEEK at his Memphis home (a reference to the California woman who became an iconic opponent of the war after her son's death in Iraq). "To me, pacifism could have led to Hitler's victory. We might have all been speaking German and Japanese right now." But as President George W. Bush speaks positively of setting benchmarks for Iraqi troops to "stand up" and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld declares that their training is going well, Captain Secher's messages from the front give a more complicated picture. His e-mails have been edited for space, and some typos have been fixed for clarity, but the words and feelings are entirely his own.

 

[manu1959]

Avatar4321, Millions of Americans were unconvinced in 2003 that Iraq had anything to do with the War On Terror. All of us and now millions more remain unconvinced.
Faulty information and wild eyed assumptions do not impress us.
Psychoblues

when the US rightly invaded afganistan to wage war on the occupied lands of al queda and the taliban .... and they then fled to iraq .... and iraq told the US to stick it .... we are not helping you capture them and not only that but fuck you on the 18 UN resolutions .... you wanted the US to do what?

 

[Gunny]

We are fighting the war on terror. I dont know why you leftists want to detach Iraq from the over all war, but they are one and the same. When you try to undermine Iraq you are trying to undermine the war on terror.

BTW just because a Marine was frustrated about the time it was taking to get things done doesnt mean that it shouldnt be done. You are lucky this marine isnt here, because he would probably kick your @$$ for trying to use him to undermine what he has done.

Absolutely no doubt. The worst Marine I ever met wouldn't be able to stomach psycho's BS, much less one whose misfortune (in this case death) he is attempting to use for his warped political agenda.

 

[USMCDevilDog]

Robert Secher had a passion for history. Until his death in Iraq on Oct. 8, the 33-year-old Marine could recount all the major battles of the Civil War. He studied the Holocaust, in which members of his father's family lost their lives. In recent e-mails home, he said he was reading about Vietnam and the Mexican civil war. But his favorite books were on ancient Rome: he was captivated by the centurions, who commanded from the front and led by example. ... His job there was one of the toughest in Iraq: making raw Iraqi recruits ready and able to take over the fight against the militants. Secher found the task exasperating and often discouraging; in e-mails and letters home, he expressed doubt that the Iraqi military would ever be ready for a handover, and criticized the way the Bush administration had directed the war.

more:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15458906/site/newsweek/

Psychoblues

What do you think posting this will get you? It's not like we're going to just turn around and be like, holy shit he's right! Because you are never right. Get that through your head.