Saddam’s conviction came as little surprise to Iraq

Published 1:31 pm Saturday, February 17, 2007

By Staff
Editor's note: In December 2006, we asked our readers to submit letters and e-mails from family members serving in Iraq in order to get an "on the ground" view of the conflict. The following letter is from 2nd Lt. Aaron Squiers, who is serving with the 1171st Army National Guard medical unit from Detroit. Squiers is a graduate of Dowagiac Union High School. He sent it to his family on Nov. 18, 2006, and it is presented here in his own words.
Dear Family and Friends,
It probably came as no shock to the Western World that Saddam was found guilty in his trial. Truth be told, it really didn't seem to surprise the Middle East either. I have contact with two Iraqi men. I see them on a regular basis as part of my normal duties. Both of them tell horrible stories about life in Iraq when Saddam was in power.
One man is in his late twenties and is the translator for our clinic. He lived in the northern part of Iraq as a child. He saw first hand the brutality of Saddam and his henchmen. He managed to escape Saddam's Iraq along with some of his family. They settled in Tennessee and began a new life without the constant fear of death and torture at the whim of a madman. When the U.S. deposed Saddam he volunteered to return to his homeland and help rebuild the country.
The other Iraqi man I have interaction with on a regular basis is a merchant. He is from the Baghdad area and has very compelling stories of Saddam's wrath. He likes telling us stories of the Saddam era. Almost every story he tells describes the fear in which people lived under Saddam. Saddam was truly an evil dictator. Soon he will hang from gallows constructed by his countryman and they will receive a degree of retribution for the decades of misery they endured.
During the week of Saddam's sentencing the Iraqi government imposed a curfew on its citizens. This curtailed violence in our area for the short while it was in effect. The relative quiet was a welcome respite.
Earlier this week, we were visited by Steve Grunwald of WYCD, a country music radio station in Detroit. Steve is part of the morning show but also seems to have his fingers in many media outlets. As the unit public affairs representative, I had the privilege of hosting his visit.
He delivered a gift from the people of Metro Detroit. The gift was an enormous yellow ribbon with thousands of signatures and well wishes stenciled onto the fabric. He toured our base to talk to the troops, and conducted some interviews, but most importantly he had an opportunity to experience life as we live in Iraq.
That same day, he flew from Camp Victory to visit troops from Michigan in other areas of the country. He was genuinely impressed with the caliber of the service members he met. I'm sure he will return to Detroit and share with his listeners the details of his adventures.
I'm also sure those same listeners will have a better understanding of the fantastic job all the servicemen are doing in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
The day after Steve departed we had a morale event in honor of the first day of deer hunting season in Michigan. We were watching videos when we were suddenly interrupted by massive explosions and a power outage.
Over the two-way radio, we learned that three rockets landed on our base. We immediately reacted to the situation and began to make preparations for the arrival of casualties. All of our personnel were recalled to the clinic as we awaited orders.
As the initial reports came in over the radio the situation looked very grim. Our soldiers moved with a sense of urgency and listened closely for instructions. At one point we received a call from the Base Defense Operations Center in which we were instructed to be prepared to move to the impact sites.
I ordered my first and second ambulance crews to "get online." That order tells the crews that they need to be sitting in their rigs with the engine running and all checks complete. Once they are "online" all they need to do is put the ambulance in drive and move to the scene of the emergency.
Fortunately, the order to move-out was unnecessary on that night. No one was killed or injured in the rocket attack. A motor pool suffered the brunt of the attack, which caused damage to several vehicles. However, the attack could have killed many people. I fear that it's just a matter of time before our luck runs out.
One of my medics saw two of the rockets detonate from a distance of less than one hundred yards. The blast was so close that he actually felt the heat from the explosion and fire. He is a resilient soldier and didn't seem the worse for wear.
The following day we had another close call, this time with small arms fire. Several rounds, from what presumably were AK-47 rifles, made their way into our area. One round impacted a work trailer and embedded into the aluminum siding. Another round crashed into the living trailer belonging to two of our soldiers.
The bullet made a two-inch hole in the ceiling. The trailer was occupied at the time and the inhabitant was showered by pieces of sheetrock.
There was also a bullet that embedded into the brick wall of our clinic. The bullet knocked away about three square inches of brick and stuck into the wall. That bullet passed over the heads of a few soldiers, as close as a few feet away in some cases.
To my knowledge only one person was injured during the attack. We treated one patient, an American soldier, with a gunshot wound. The bullet grazed the soldier's leg and did not cause a serious injury. He was released immediately after getting minor treatment by our medical staff.
>From the Front,
Aaron