US
Lieutenant Timothy McLaughlin’s Iraq diary is not an introspective journal, but
10 years after the invasion its terse, staccato account of a young man’s war
holds a powerful charge.
The
telegraphic style of the entries, jotted in a small notebook embossed with the
Marine Corps seal, leaves the reader with a lot of work to do, and a new
exhibition in New York shows it is all the more powerful for that.
The death
toll among the Iraqi fighters who confront the 25-year-old junior officer’s
unit is high, but the diary does not linger on the details.
“My
position is good to cut off back door exit. kill dismounts in grove (3-7?) then
1 swimming across canal/2 just about in canal,” he writes.
In another
encounter his tank engages a car: “Vehicle slowed down, swerved left off road +
hit tree. Civilian shot 5 times in back + legs. continued progress to Afaq.”
The 36
pages of the diary meticulously record all aspects of McLaughlin’s daily grind
in the same dry style: lists, instructions, schedules, battles, a song,
accounts of around 70 deaths, his thoughts about Iraqis.
For the
exhibition the pages have been blown up as wall panels accompanied by
photographs and explanatory texts to better site the story in the history of
the conflict. It takes visitors into the heart of the war.
Mclaughlin’s
Marines were among the first US troops in Firdos Square in Baghdad in 2003 and
their unit’s flag was the one hoisted onto a statue of Saddam Hussein before it
was symbolically toppled.
“Swamped by
mass of reporters – could not move/peace protester +how many children have you
killed today+,” the diary reads.
Images from
the square were seen by millions of television viewers around the world, and
formed part of the intense international debate about the rights and wrongs of
the war and US policy.
Politics
was not what interested Mclaughlin when he wrote the diary, but now, even if he
is not comfortable with all that the account says about him as a younger man,
he thinks his unvarnished account can serve a purpose.
“For most
people in the military, they detach themselves from political decisions that
are being made, so I didn’t think about the political question at all, my
country said go, my job is to go,” he told AFP.
He talks of
the nightmares he still suffers, and of the errors that still haunt him, errors
that he says cost the lives of a fellow Marine and many Iraqi civilians.
Officially,
he has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. But he sees
things differently.
“It’s not a
disorder, it’s a natural reaction to combat experiences,” he says. “If you were
not affected by it, that might be a disorder.
“To send
young 18- and 25-year-olds to go kill people at war, to expect them to come
home with no consequences, that’s not what is natural.”
McLaughlin
agreed to share his diary on the tenth anniversary of a war that America seems
keen to forget, in the hope that the population as a whole might better
understand what he and his comrades experienced.
“There is a
disconnect in my country between people who serve and everybody else, who only
see those experiences through movies or politicians on the news,” he said.
McLaughlin
wants American civilians to “think a little bit more critically about the
decision to go to war and what it means for the people in Iraq or the people in
Bosnia, or wherever.”
“It affects
the people who live there, and it affects the young people who are sent to
fight to wars,” he argues.
The idea
for the exhibit came from American journalist Peter Maass, to whom McLaughlin
showed his worn-out, forgotten notebook kept in the trunk of an old car, grains
of sand still stuck between the pages.
Maass, who
worked for the New York Times Magazine, had met McLaughlin in Iraq and followed
his marine battalion until its entry into Baghdad. The third author of the
exhibition is British photographer Gary Knight.
“ … There’s much violence and anger throughout the world; when we look at the Middle East, we can see that changes are coming there. The West has a lot of power over the Middle East, but that power will begin to dissolve. The Muslim people of this world will begin to have their own power, and their own prosperity, and they will begin to disconnect from the Western World. This disconnection doesn’t have to be violent as violence only happens when somebody hangs onto what doesn’t belong to them....
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| Suicides have outnumbered combat deaths in US troops in 2008 and 2009 |
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(Matthew channelled by Suzanne Ward, June 3, 2012)
“…. 22. Beyond those myriad personal situations, beyond the civilian casualties in war zones, and beyond the financial burdens to the peoples whose nations are at war is the global emotional impact. It can be said that the condition coined post traumatic stress disorder is endemic to Earth. No one is immune to this battle energy that permeates your world, no one can escape the ravages that centuries of bloodshed have inured generation after generation to accept as humankind’s nature and lot in life. Yet, the fear of dying is just as pervasive, and that sets up a paradox that minds have to come to terms with. …"
“ … There’s much violence and anger throughout the world; when we look at the Middle East, we can see that changes are coming there. The West has a lot of power over the Middle East, but that power will begin to dissolve. The Muslim people of this world will begin to have their own power, and their own prosperity, and they will begin to disconnect from the Western World. This disconnection doesn’t have to be violent as violence only happens when somebody hangs onto what doesn’t belong to them....
... What Military Energy means if we use an analogy: it would be like putting grinding paste into the oil of your motor car. Once you release these energies you will begin to feel lighter as you disconnect from this reality, and, you will find it easier and easier to release any other negative emotions. Military Energies are the core of all your problems...."
"Recalibration of Free Choice"– Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Loose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth, 4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical) 8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) - (Text version)
“… 8 - The End of War
The last one is the best. For thousands of years on this planet, Human Beings have warred with each other. If you take a look at the reasons they warred with each other, you will quickly see there aren't any good ones - land, resources, greed. Those are not reasons. That is a description of old energy. Those are not reasons. Reasons would be perhaps defense against an aggressor. But what if there is no longer the consciousness of the aggressor?
When I appeared in my partner's life more than 20 years ago, I said to him privately that the first messages we're going to give will be unbelievable. There would be laughter. We told him that Human nature and consciousness itself would change, and that the seeds of peace would be planted and there would come a time where there is no more war. Indeed, the laughter was great because humans look at history and they see patterns based on an absolute energy called Human Nature. "Impossible! There always has to be war. There always has been. Therefore, there always will be." This is you, in a box, in a black and white potential, where you can only see the black and white of what is and the black and white of what has been. You have no idea the shades of color that are there in your consciousness and the beauty of the love of God
North Korea is on the edge of change, as we told you it might be. What did this require? The death of the old energy, and I want you to watch this take place. The advisors of the young leader are going to do their best to pull him back into an old energy. This free choice of his will be far different than his father, for he sees some color. Watch for these things. They'll take longer than you want, but it is the beginning of the beginning.….”
When I appeared in my partner's life more than 20 years ago, I said to him privately that the first messages we're going to give will be unbelievable. There would be laughter. We told him that Human nature and consciousness itself would change, and that the seeds of peace would be planted and there would come a time where there is no more war. Indeed, the laughter was great because humans look at history and they see patterns based on an absolute energy called Human Nature. "Impossible! There always has to be war. There always has been. Therefore, there always will be." This is you, in a box, in a black and white potential, where you can only see the black and white of what is and the black and white of what has been. You have no idea the shades of color that are there in your consciousness and the beauty of the love of God
North Korea is on the edge of change, as we told you it might be. What did this require? The death of the old energy, and I want you to watch this take place. The advisors of the young leader are going to do their best to pull him back into an old energy. This free choice of his will be far different than his father, for he sees some color. Watch for these things. They'll take longer than you want, but it is the beginning of the beginning.….”
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