[RRWANTR]

My thoughts and prayers to his family. You are truely a hero!
Link to more... http://www.startribune.com/stories/1762/5033772.html


This is the text of an e-mail John Pinsonneault sent to family friend Pamela Watters last Friday.

Thanks for the encouragement. These days it's needed.

As far the happenings here, yes things are escalating; the anti-coalition wants to disrupt the US elections which is quickly approaching, and influence the American people that their leadership is not being successful.

Along with that they want to keep things here chaotic because of their upcoming elections at the end of the year.

They are very dedicated to disrupting the 'security' of this country in hopes of discrediting the coalition claims of security improving and tightening.

I think I told you about the car bomb from earlier this week. One guy seems to be doing much better, the other is still in induced coma.

We had a rocket land in our team tent last night. We had finished an all-hands meeting not 30 mins. prior. That frickin' rocket landed 15 yards from where I stood.

Good news was that it buried itself deep enough that the blast was minimal. NO real injuries, a couple of minor cuts.

The bounties continue to grow and the threat levels have increased with both elections nearing and Ramadan a week away, we are expecting things to increasingly become more hairy.

Such is life and the cost of freedom. Yet, without regrets, what I have seen and continue to see daily, reconfirms my personal commitment to the Iraqi people.

Some say the war is about oil, weapons of mass destruction...and they are indeed some collateral elements of the rationale why we are here.

The real reason, which it haunts me why the media doesn't express this more, is because of the oppression of people, their basic freedoms.

Stand over a mass grave in the Kurdish high country, a mass grave of Kurds who were gassed because they had differing philosophies than Saddam. Stand over the mass grave and look at the rotted bodies, young, old, men, women and children who were gassed near Basrah to 'test' the effects of their chem/bio weapons.

Talk to the women who were rapped by Saddam's sons and others in his regime. Come here and see the hatred in their eyes for Saddam and his regime. Look at how these people live; stacked on top of each other, on the streets and find out their disparity.

The unfortunate part is their lack of trust for the coalition's overall intent. Will the US stay the course to help them reconstruct their country, will we make sure the US stays here through the elections, will we be here to ensure that the transfer of that power is successful in the long run.

Will the US be here to repel any revolution...the Iraqi people have a lot n their minds. They are deathly afraid that leadership could go bad and things would go back to the way it was; a very few hold the money and power and the rest must pay the pipers in order to do anything.

The corruption of the system here was nothing short of maddening. Nothing was done without payoffs, bribes, conspiracy...which keeps the ambassadors and Senior Advisors from the coalition forces on their toes. Changing that mentality doesn't happen just because Saddam is gone.

So there lies some of the incredible challeneges faced in overthrowing a leader and the redevelopment of a people, a government and a country.

John Pinsonneault

Team Leader, Team 3

DynCorp WPPS

Baghdad, Iraq

[RRWANTR]

Read the link also...provides more info..