Paul Mansfield

I am two tour Iraq war veteran with a total of a little over eight years of service as an army infantryman. I wish to join Iraq veterans against the war because I disagreed with the decission to invade Iraq from the outset of the war. I had at that time finished my first four year enlistment, was attending college and had just been married. Many of my close friends with whom I had served, soldiers I had led and trained were being deployed. After serious consideration I re-enlisted. I felt that if my nation had decided (however wrongly) to send soldiers to Iraq then my place was beside them, attempting to do as much good as I might in a bad situation. In my time in Iraq I never saw any evidence of WMD's, nor do I believe any terrorist were active in the country prior to our invasion and the subsequent power vacuum. What I did witness were gross abuses of power, corruption and the heroic actions and sacrifices of our service men and women often brought to naught by flawed policies and a nation worse off for our efforts.