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F eature
6 • T he C lackamas P rint
A pril 28, 2Q0j
Soldier tells other side of Iraq war
A sergeant relates
bis experiences in
the Persian Gulf
Jessica LeClaire
T he C lackamas P rint
According to one U.S. soldier, it
is time America stopped focusing
on the terrible events in Iraq
depicted by the media and talk to
those; who have been there about
the good they see taking place in
the war-torn country.
Christopher Kjos, a sergeant
in the United States Army, just
returned from Iraq. He was sent
to Iraq April 2, 2003 and sta
tioned in Baghdad at the CPA
headquarters.
“Bush is a good man,” said
Kjos. “I like to see a president
that won’t sit back and take B.S.”
Kjos said that although some
Bush critics say the war in Iraq is
just G.W.’s way of finishing his
father’s job, he believes that in
reality they are two very differ
ent wars. The war that we are
dealing with now is a war on ter
ror, he said; a war that hopes to
rebuild Iraq, reinstate an Iraqi
government and- give power back
the to the people that Saddam
mistreated for so long.
Most of all, Kjos believes the
war is to protect America.
“There will always be more
terrorists,” said Kjos. “It’s bet
ter to weed them out than to let
them attack us.”
According to Kjos, the condi
tions io Iraq before the U.S.
troops arrived were.i terrible.
The front
of a
military
vehicle
sits in a
sewage
ditch whi
Iraqis loo
on. Part
of the
recon
struction
efforts
include
moderniz
ing the
sewage
system.
lished its own gov
ernment.
It is
hard to say how
long the war in
Iraq will last, but
he believes the war
on terror overall
will be a long one.
“We’ve lost an
estimated 600 of
our soldiers in a
year. People who
criticize the war
forget about how
many people died
on Sept- 11,” said
Kjos. “You can’t
blame the deaths
of the soldiers on
the President. It
takes 10 lives to
save a thousand.”
Saddam lived in stylish palaces
while his people suffered. Few
Iraqi people had electricity and
running water. What the troops
are doing in Iraq is helping out
the Iraqi people.
“Most of the Iraqi people live
in homes that are built out of
sand and clay,” said Kjos.
According to Kjos, the cur
rent sewage system in Iraq runs
down the sides of the street. In
fact, one of the tasks troops are
accomplishing for the Iraqi peo
ple is the implementation of a
new sewage system and creating
electricity
within
homes.
Another is to redirect the oil
profits, which used to go strictly
to Saddam, but will now go to
the people.
“I think that the media will
say what the people want to
hear; they are a business,” said
Kjos. “If you want the real
truth, talk to someone that has
been in Iraq for two years.”
Kjos said it is frustrating for
him to watch the news because
he has been in Iraq and he
knows exactly what is going on.
He feels the media likes to por
tray only the worst events that
occur, rather than focusing on
the good the troops are doing.
“On the news, you don’t see the
kids hugging the soldiers or the
grown Iraqi men crying and com
ing up to the soldiers, kissing them
on the cheek,” said Kjos. “One of
the kids came up to me and the
only English words he knew were
‘America good, Bush good,
Saddam donkey.’”
Kjos estimates that by July 1,
2004, Iraq should have estab-
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