Iraq veteran sees nothing positive about U.S. troops fighting there
By TESS NACELEWICZ, Portland Press Herald Writer
Copyright © 2006 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.
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Brian Clement of Gardiner, an Army veteran, said during a talk at the University of Southern Maine on Thursday that he started his yearlong duty in Iraq believing America hadn't gone to war for the right reasons, but "thought I could do some good."
However, Clement, who was with the 1st Cavalry Division, said that in his job driving a truck around Iraq, including such hot spots as Fallujah and Sadr City, "I didn't see anything positive about our being in Iraq."
Clement, who returned home last March and received an honorable discharge from the service in June, has since joined Iraq Veterans Against the War.
"I support the troops wholeheartedly," he said, "but I don't support the misuse of our armed forces as they are being used now."
Clement was part of a five-member group invited to USM's Portland campus to discuss the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Four members of the panel spoke out strongly against the war in Iraq.
The position of a fifth panel member, a military journalist who served in Afghanistan until two months ago, was not clear, but he urged Americans to educate themselves on the issues.
The discussion was held in recognition of the upcoming third anniversary of the start of the U.S.-led war in Iraq, which began March 20, 2003.
John Baugher, an assistant professor of sociology at USM, who moderated the event and helped coordinate it, said that with an increasing number of U.S. soldiers killed and injured and with thousands of civilian deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan, people needed to talk about the conflicts.
"There's too much at stake here for us to keep our heads in the sand. We have to know what's going on," he said. He said the event was sponsored by several campus symposiums and student groups.
About 60 to 70 people attended the talk, many of them students. The audience applauded loudly several times in reaction to comments from the speakers.
The event was billed as a panel discussion with veterans of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, although only two panel members met that description: Clement and the military journalist, Rick Scavetta of Connecticut, who served in Afghanistan from February 2005 to January 2006 as the Army's chief of media relations.
Scavetta said, "It's the responsibility of Americans to dig deeper than what's on our television news."
The other panelists were USM student Michael Savage, a former Army paratrooper who served in Kosovo; Richard Clement of Gardiner, a Vietnam-era veteran and father of Brian Clement; and Dexter Kamilewicz, whose son, Sgt. Ben Kamilewicz of the Vermont Army National Guard, is currently stationed in Iraq.
Kamilewicz, a peace activist without a party affiliation, is collecting signatures to get on the ballot to run in November for the 1st District congressional seat held by Democrat Tom Allen.
Richard Clement, a member of Veterans for Peace and Military Families Speak Out, said the year his son Brian was in Iraq was "pretty much a year in hell" for him and his wife. Kamilewicz described his son Ben's experiences in Iraq, including being ambushed and having bullets whiz past his face. He said his son reported that troops were poorly trained and equipped. Kamilewicz said "accountability is missing" in Washington about the war.
Staff Writer Tess Nacelewicz can be contacted at 791-6367 or at:
tnacelewicz@pressherald.com
Reader Comments
How do you feel about troops in Iraq?
Jeff of Portland, ME
Mar 17, 2006 2:18 PM
I can't believe you "J." To say anything like that about president Bush, to actually honestly sit there and think Bush is a good president. Well, I never thought I would hear such a mornonic statement from a fellow American citizen. GWB has put his smear in this countries histroy, and the worlds for that matter. And in that capacity, he has been successful. EVERYONE will always remember GWB. What sets him apart from others is that HE IS DUMBEST MORON TO EVER WALK GOD'S GREEN EARTH. I don't just mean he lacks common intelligence, I mean that he is truly and STUPID person who is SELFISH, GREEDY, AND HE IS EVIL. I cannot wait until 2008, because there is NOBODY IN THE WORLD who can screw this country up as much as the MORONIC GWB. I mean all you Bush supporters, or should I say to the lack of Bush supporters, how can you like and support someone who cannot even speak proper English? This man is the leader of the largest most powerful country in the WORLD and he probably can't even tie his own shoes.
HOW DID THIS IDIOT GET INTO OFFICE, oh wait, I know, a bunch of MORONS VOTED FOR HIM!!
Bruce of Brunswick, Me
Mar 17, 2006 2:09 PM
I was at the event last night and the veterans were very moving in their testimony. Two of them have been to Iraq. This war won't end until the funding is cut for it.
Rep. Michael Michaud (D-ME) yesterday voted against H.R.4939, the Emergency Supplemental for the war. The bill approved another $72 billion for the war in Iraq. Rep. Tom Allen (D-ME) voted in favor of the war funding appropriation.
In a statement Rep. Michaud defended his no vote by saying, "Some will say that this bill is needed for our troops, and that to oppose this bill is somehow not supporting them. Nothing could be further from the truth. I always have and always will support our troops. I have devoted myself in Congress as the Ranking Member of the Veterans Committee's Subcommittee on Health to seeing to their needs, and to ensuring that they and their families get the care that they have earned......And why would we hand another blank check to the people who can't even give our soldiers bulletproof vests, and who have gotten us to our current state of affairs? In fact, the opposite is the case. To write a blank check in Iraq with no accountability and no demand for a plan does no favors for our troops or for the Iraqi people."
According to the National Priorities Project the war in Iraq has now cost the taxpayers of Maine over $900 million. That same amount of money could have provided 123,000 Mainers with full health care coverage or 25,000 public safety officers or 18,500 elementary school teachers in our state.
Philip J Dennany
Mar 17, 2006 1:32 PM
I too support the troops, and want them home where they belong. Not only was Iraq not responsible for 9/11, but bin Landin says he wasn't involved either. I am beginning to believe that he did not have any involvement. Who really is making a gain by all the US war effort?
Rob Wright of Naples, ME
Mar 17, 2006 1:04 PM
I spent six months in Kuwait with a Personnel Services Battalion out of Fort Sill, Oklahoma (parent unit out of Fort Hood, Texas). During my units six months in Kuwait (during the war), we did absolutely nothing productive unless you consider laying around a tent and watching dvd movies all day and night productive. I am a two time war veteran (desert storm and iraqi freedom) and I served in the military for 11 years. While I do not question our presence in Iraq, I question how our troops are being used and question all those that say the military is spread too thin.
While I served in Kuwait for Iraqi Freedom, I email our political leaders here in the great state of Maine and as usual, they ignored me. Our useless senators and other politicians in the state should spend more time investigating what our troops are actually doing in Iraq rather than worrying about some of the minor things that seem to constantly attract their attention!
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