IRAQ

Love and War

What's striking about this conflict is not that Americans and Iraqis have met on the battlefield and fallen in love and married. It's that so few have. In their stories lies the sad, tortured tale of the war itself.

By Christopher Dickey and Jessica Ramirez | NEWSWEEK
From the magazine issue dated Oct 22, 2007

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  • Posted By: iraq @ 02/27/2008 4:24:20 PM

    First of all I think this americans that are out there - military and contractors that fall in love with these iraq girls, yes girls. It seems they are a little young for these men. They should be ashamed of themselves seeking someone so young and converting to muslims just to please their brides. If these are true love stories why doesn't the bride convert to the man's religion if they really love them. Therefore, it looks like these women just want to marry american men to use them for the own freedom. Guys wake up. Do you see what they are doing to you, they just want to become us citizens. Dummies have them covert to your religion i am sure not even your charm will make that happen.

    • Posted By: jjjfffrrr @ 04/28/2008 12:10:25 AM

      I am a woman and fell in love with an Iraqi man. I agree to a few bellow replies. I had a mission and had no intentions, no desire, no interests other than my mission. What I learned and what I thought I knew are complete halluncinations of each other. With a fixed strongarm to my country and what was happening to me, I did not let my guard down but opened my mind to education from fact, fiction, and misconseptions. I am not with him but he knows I will love him forever and he knows how much we have changed each others lives.

  • Posted By: cetacia @ 10/27/2007 10:05:23 AM

    This article is a good example of why peace is so hard to negotiate in Iraq. Its the state of mind of my way "Islam" or the highway. I am sorry to see that the Americans capitulated to win their prize. Rather disturbing article actually.

    • Posted By: citizenoftheworld @ 11/14/2007 2:02:12 PM

      you've obviously missed the point of the article

  • Posted By: citizenoftheworld @ 11/14/2007 1:59:33 PM

    I don't think that mentioning this sad love story between an Iraqi woman and an american man is more or less sad than a story of two americans and their love. I don't think it was meant to take attention away from other tragic stories. It was meant as a source of information about another type of love that doesn't get covered as much in the media. Why would the situation be more sad if the two were American? That's the whole point of the article- that love exists even in times of war between HUMANS.

  • Posted By: lorielipstraw @ 10/30/2007 7:45:51 AM

    In all of your mention of errors in grammer, punctuation, spelling, military protocol and the tradgic ending to the love story between an American Major and his Iraqi wife, no mention was made of the young Sgt. who died in the vehicle with Maj. Ahearn. He also had a love story. He was in love with a beautiful American nursing student. Their chance of building a life together was also cut short. Guess that's not as interesting since they were both Americans who worshiped God. Now that's sad!

  • Posted By: lorielipstraw @ 10/30/2007 7:31:57 AM

    In all of your mention of errors in grammer and uniform and this love story ending in tragedy, there was no mention of the young Sgt. who died in the same vehicle as Maj. Ahearn. There was a love in his life as well. Only he was in love with a beautiful young American nursing student. Their love was cut short before they had a chance to make any kind of life together. Guess that's not interesting enough since they were both Americans who worshiped God. Now that's sad!

  • Posted By: damon_sandiego @ 10/29/2007 11:14:07 PM

    One does not "win" military medals, awards and/or decorations; one earns them, especially in combat. Sportng events, spelling bees, baking contests, sure, but not in the armed services. In fututre writings, please correct this gross insult to the countless recipients.

    • Posted By: lj8576 @ 10/30/2007 2:01:21 AM

      Sportng events, fututre writings.
      If you are going to critique someone please use spell check MORON

  • Posted By: DavGMZ67 @ 10/27/2007 3:27:05 PM

    They look great. That's what Im talking about.....Thats the best news I have heard in almost for years.... "Leaders of the World,Tear down your walls!!!, and destroy your Bombs!!!!"

    • Posted By: damon_sandiego @ 10/29/2007 11:44:50 PM

      1) The use of multiple periods to separate two sentences is incorrect.
      2) There exists proper punctuation that CAN achieve the desired effect here, but only when used properly. (Investigate the 'ellipsis.')
      3) The contraction for 'that is' should have been written with an apostrophe before the letter 's.'
      4) There's a differnece between the word 'for' and the number 'four.'
      5) A comma is ALWAYS followed by a space. There are NO exceptions.
      6) Exclamation marks end a sentence, they do not appear in the middle of a sentence. Nor can they be combined with any other punctuation, with the exception of closing quotationmarks and/or closing parenthesis.
      7) The quotation marks that you've placed in your comments should have started before the word 'Tear' and not before the word 'Leaders.'

      Please invest in crucial proofreading prior to exposing your lack of knowledge to the world.
      Thank you.

  • Posted By: Navysnipe @ 10/27/2007 1:29:43 PM

    A person is an intelligent being capable of rational thought and emotion. People are panicky, dumb animals prone to mob mentality (even worse when it's religiously motivated).
    These individuals are lucky to have found love, but it's rediculous to think this "love" principle can be applied to foreign policy and politics.
    Everyone should admire these individuals for overcoming the preconcieved notions and perceptions. But we're not likely to see ambassadors falling in love with national representatives and forming peace treaties between religious ideals at the reception.

    • Posted By: damon_sandiego @ 10/29/2007 11:34:17 PM

      Am I the only one who found that the first two sentences of this comment contradict each other?

  • Posted By: abaybay @ 10/24/2007 3:07:06 PM

    i think that the war is a waste of time because we don't need to be fighting all we have to be doing is talking it out like reall people would but instead we're like like little kids and fightnig over something that is plenty

    • Posted By: damon_sandiego @ 10/29/2007 11:31:54 PM

      Amazing! All that hyperbole and not ONCE did you use punctuation. Furthermore, your failure to proofread your own work has left glaring misspellings. It's good to see that your stellar education has paid off so well.

  • Posted By: KeyGuy @ 10/23/2007 8:46:03 PM

    Most of the leading magazines like Newsweek have a policy of awarding a free subscription for one year to anyone who finds a significant error that has gotten past their editors. If you find an error on the cover you might even be hired to help the editors. On the cover of your 22 Oct magazine, the Army Lieutenant Colonel (he's a Doc so we'll have to give him some slack) on the cover is wearing his Army Expeditionary ribbon backwards. Of the red, white, and blue stripes in the center, the red goes toward the shoulder, not toward the center. I was in the Army for 30 years and had 6 tours in combat so I and the men I served with know the difference. Please send word the the LTC so he can square away his uniform and please send my 12 month subscription to the ER Waiting Room at Womack Army Hospital, Ft. Bragg, NC

    Thanks

    LTC (Ret) Ted Jordan

    • Posted By: damon_sandiego @ 10/29/2007 11:29:40 PM

      Reply to KeyGuy's comment:
      Great comment, Sir, and thank you for spotting that error. As a former Marine, I think it's important for military and journalists alike to know when something's out of order. Now if we can get them to understand that 1) not everyone in the military is a soldier (i.e., sailors, airmen, Marines, coastguardsmen), 2) not every tracked vehicle is a tank, 3) and that our servicemen and women are cut from the same cloth as the general public (we've just been imbued with different training, life experiences and extraordinary challenges), maybe we'll make progress towards understanding each other better.

      Sergeant, USMC

      (P.S. As for the aforementioned error, naysayers, it DOES make a difference.)

  • Posted By: evansc2 @ 10/15/2007 5:49:06 AM

    I think it's amazing that love can overcome seemingly insurmountable odds against it. It can bridge gaps between culture, religion, and human conflict. If we all followed the true tenets of our respective faiths there would be no war, no hate, no unhappiness and suffering. Stories like those above restore my oft faltering faith in the power of God's love.

    • Posted By: damon_sandiego @ 10/29/2007 11:17:15 PM

      Yours is a very insightful and extremely well-written comment. Thank you for posting it!

  • Posted By: DavGMZ67 @ 10/27/2007 3:30:00 PM

    They look great. That's what Im talking about.....That picture is the best news I have heard in almost four years.... It says 1001 arabian words to me."Leaders of the World,Tear down your walls!!!, and destroy your Bombs!!!!". "Let our Children Go!!!!"

  • Posted By: Shahabeddin_Karandish @ 10/27/2007 9:31:14 AM

    It shows the power of love.
    All the nations can live in peace. Just love is fact. This story is real face of human. Politicians must read this story.
    STOP WAR.
    BEGIN LOVE.

  • Posted By: vargas @ 10/26/2007 11:53:45 AM

    This is a beautiful story of love between men and women who have nothing to cling onto in this world other than each other. I found it very eye-opening to the reality of the darkness and complexity of the Middle East, but the beauty that can be found if we continue to struggle for peace and a free society. I am very impressed by all of the couples mentioned in the article.

  • Posted By: kwh13 @ 10/26/2007 8:56:50 AM

    Why was this article even written? The moron reporters who put this together apparently have never been to Iraq or they would know that the reason that there are not these WW2 romances sweeping each other off your feet situations is that 1. Americans are required to live on the base and liberty is not granted to anyone just to go out in the town and hang around the cafe. Why? Because they will kidnap you and cut your freaking head off. 2. A male SPEAKING with an female of child bearing age, depending what part of the country you are in and what tribe you are dealing with could result in the woman being stoned to death by her family because of the great DISHONOR she has brought upon herself and her family. 3. THEY DONT SPEAK ENGLISH AND WE DONT SPEAK ARABIC. 4. This is a bit of an attempt at humor but there is little to no alcohol over there. Admit it - half of us would have never been concieved if not for the assistance of a few cocktails consumed by our parents.

  • Posted By: vera562 @ 10/25/2007 5:41:43 PM

    This war needs to end, we are fighting for nothing. Everything was lie by the poor excuse of a president names Bush.

  • Posted By: innovtions @ 10/23/2007 5:47:57 PM

    This is a delicate topic since it deals with racial issues. I for one am liberal in mixed relationships since I, a hispanic, married an Italian. I have no prejudices whatsoever and I think it's beautiful that two people can learn and relate to each others background.
    But when you're an American soldier assigned to an Iraqi battlefield, where terrorism can and does happen almost everyday, it's almost like a slap in the face to America for the trust that is given to them. Personally, I feel that during wartime, all relations, especially intimate, should not happen unless the two parties were already involved before the war.
    Women are not just cuddle-cushions. They can be just as "terroristic" as men. Look, if an Iraqi woman can duct-tape explosives to her baby's diaper, then believe me, you can be falling right into a trap. Now one has to wonder if we're losing bodies because some of our soldiers are not paying attention around their surroundings because they're busy daydreaming of a girl they think they love. Or how about a soldier who falls in love to the point that he starts to believe that we're the enemy.
    This is in no way intended to be mean and cruel towards our soldiers fighting a dangerous war. It's actually for their own good. Alot of our troops are 18, 19 yrs old and can be easily manipulated. They should really have a strict policy on intimacy during war time.

  • Posted By: Adheen @ 10/23/2007 7:12:30 AM

    Hi!im really interested with this topic.married or even falling in love with someone that originally from Iraq is actually is not a big deal. Th big deal is that the society's perception and acceptance on it. well, im also having a close relationship with my Iraqi friend. Both of us doing our degree in Political Science. But i feel pity for him for his hardship being in Iraqis. he said that he couldn't even go back to his country for taking the Political sc. course reason. Im also hoping that we shouldn't being too islamphobia as the Iraqis also a human being like us. ~~

  • Posted By: windsurfing @ 10/20/2007 1:36:25 PM

    I'm posting a comment (I hope my name doesn't show up and instead only my profile name) just to share as I can certainly from several different perspectives identify with this story and many points in the story are right on target. I was in the U.S. Military (Airborne Air Assault Infantry) and later some ROTC in college in the Ranger's Program and have donated much to charities for soldiers and their families. This Newsweek story was the kind of story that I was hoping to find one day. I'm legally through my Sister's marriage and biologically through my immediate next-of-kin related to the Middle East to a family who resides including in Jeddah who associated with the Bin Ladens, and the family (Sunni) my Sister married into also has friends in Iraq. I was appreciative to see one of the comment posts include "treating people with dignity and passion as human beings first can narrow the gap between the different cultures and religions..." From my own personal experience in the U.S. in having been in the military and becoming related to the Middle East, it is a smorgasboard in which I've faced everything you can imagine - right down from people telling me, "how can you sister do that," to "I feel sorry for you," which I get tired of being told "I feel sorry for you," to even on several occasions I've been called a "traiter" for not disowning my Sister and her family. As the article references a "clash of civilations," it certainly makes for an interesting life having been in the military and related to the Middle East where most of my Sister's and next-of-kin's family resides. The hardest part is when children are involved, such as my one year old nephew (he has a Middle Eastern name, and his grandfather was a Christian Minister). I sometimes hear some say, "he's the innocent one in this," when I'm having discussions about my family with more than one person present. I could go on and on, this Newsweek story was an incredible story with some excellent points in pointing out current issues that will continue into the future. I just wanted to place a post thanking the authors for their hard work in the article, and thanking those who wrote comments in relation to the article for the views.

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