Public Employee Press

DC 37 Iraq vets
The weight of war

By JANE LaTOUR

President Barack Obama addressed the nation Aug. 31 to declare Operation Iraqi Freedom at an end.

"The struggle for peace is not over, but the progress we've made is undeniable," Obama said. His restrained assessment contrasted favorably with the callous certitude of former President George Bush, who seven years ago claimed, "Mission Accomplished," on the deck of an aircraft carrier.

The administration is presenting the withdrawal of combat troops as the fulfillment of a campaign pledge to end the war, but there are still 50,000 troops in Iraq and war costs still drain vital U.S. resources.

In Iraq, life is dangerous, conditions are chaotic and political leadership is at a stalemate. At home, attention has shifted back to the nine-year-old war in Afghanistan as Iraq veterans return with injuries requiring costly care, the suicide rate among soldiers continues to climb, and issues involving torture and the trials of detainees by military tribunals are still unresolved.

PEP spoke with two DC 37 members who served in Iraq, including Sgt. Deborah Simon, a retired Clerical Associate from Gouverneur Hospital who braved sniper attacks, suicide bombers and roadside bombs in 2005 leading transportation convoys.

The weight of the war continues to affect Simon, who takes part in a support group at a veterans' hospital. "When we came back from Iraq, we were all messed up, trying to put ourselves together. The support we thought we would get wasn't there," she said. "The mental strain of war is unbelievable." Now, she avoids the news and cries every time she learns of the death of a soldier.

Casualties mount

Simon tells of her desolation at losing comrades who served beside her - like Manny, a man in his twenties and the father of three young children. "It was devastating," she said. "Another soldier in my unit was killed in a blast. You're always on edge."

Her thoughts on Iraq are complicated. "I'm glad we're coming out of there. I wish we could come out of Afghanistan too," she said. "We made a difference in some ways, especially in the lives of women. Now they are trying to stand up and be heard." But for Simon, the cost of trying to bring countries that are so far behind into a democratic future is too high. "Too many lives are being lost," she said.

In 2005, Sgt. 1st Class Tunde Babawale faced the gruesome reality of war as a surgical tech at Abu Ghraib. "We prepare for war," he said, "but soldiers like me are the biggest pacifists."

Babawale was fortunate to return to his family, wife Bimpe and children Sam and Marian, and to his job as an Eligibility Specialist II at the Food Stamp Center in Bedford-Stuyvesant.

Multiple tours of duty

But on April 10, he began training to serve with his medical unit in Afghanistan. Home for a two-week leave before shipping out to the war zone on Oct. 16, Babawale offered his thoughts on the war.

"I left Iraq five years ago," he said. "Hopefully, one day, that country will be peaceful with a stable government, because we made a lot of sacrifices for them. That's my prayer for Iraq."