Revealing Revelations by Ric Nero Read Free Book Online Page B

his attention between the wall maps and me. “You just made it back from Iraq what, roughly a month ago?” he asks me.
    “Just shy of,” I answered.
    “So I assume that you have multiple questions from your grand tour. What difference did our being there have in terms of positive aspects? Why have I yet to see these so-called weapons of mass destruction? All the good soldiers that served this country, was this war worth them dying for?” he asks me while still orbiting the large table Shane and I both sat at.   
    Asking that last question instantly brought tears to my eyes. Green, I thought about her constantly. She was a soldier, a human being and a friend. Her life was worth more than to be just another martyr for this so-called war on terrorism. Yeah, I lost other friends in fire-fights I wish I could get back. But, Green was different. Not because she was a female soldier, no. But because she was the only one I blamed myself for. Deep down I felt as though I killed her, and no matter what anyone said, her blood was on my hands. If I’d never stopped her to talk that long, she would have never been in the exact spot that put her in direct course of the mortar. A person who called me friend died because of a friend. Some friend I was. “I’m so sorry,” I say under my breath doing my best to hold back tears.
    Shane looks at me, he may have or may not have heard what I said, but he knew that last question struck a chord in me.
    Bazz continues on with his lecture, “All these why questions pile up like a brick wall separating you from the answer you really want.”
    “WHY?! WHY WERE WE EVEN THERE?!” I yell out, finding myself in between emotions of sadness and anger.
    Bazz, surprised at my response, stops in his tracks and looks at me and studies my “get to the point” demeanor. “Oil,” Bazz said.
    Oil! I’ve been to hell and back and the only reason he can give me is oil? I calm myself before I made my next statement. “Chaplain, with all due respect I was in Iraq from September of ‘06 to December of ‘07 and never have I seen any oil.”
    He looks up at the ceiling. “Are you sure?” Bazz asks. He walks over to a map of the Middle East and points to Iraq. “In January 2001 only a small fraction of oil was coming from Iraq. In March of that same year, it was decided by presidential cabinet that Iraq was believed to be a destabilizing influence to international oil markets. Six months later, the well orchestrated events of September eleventh took place to concentrate a focus on the wrongfully accused to have Americas support through pain and tragedy to go to Middle Eastern countries to control oil under the opuses of war.” He explains in a passionate voice. “Do you know how much oil was reported to have come out of Iraq in 2007?” he asked me.
    I remained silent with interest as to where he may be headed with this theory. “One hundred-fifteen billion barrels. That’s a significant donation from a warring country if I might add,” Bazz says, dropping his arm from the map to his side.
    “So let me ask you, how did they regulate oil between Iraq to wherever they keep it?” I ask Bazz.
    “Remember, Shane, in your first tour to Iraq how you had to drive tactically from Kuwait to Iraq?”
    Shane nods up and down. It’s amazing to see the notoriously outspoken Sgt. Shannahan so silent and serious after such an entertaining brawl outside as if nothing just happened a few minutes ago. I haven’t seen him this quiet since we had honor guard together. “But nowadays they fly you in and out, saying it’s more convenient for the soldiers. Since when has making anything easier for the lower enlisted ever been a factor?” he laughs in irony briefly. “You pack equipment into con-ex’s and mill vans, that later gets sent to Kuwait by civilian driven trucks and from there are stacked on boats and shipped to America. All the while you pay it no mind, you’re just happy to make it from Iraq to