IRAQ: 9/11 observed in Saddam’s old digs
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The army band fell silent. The tuba and trombone players clasped their huge instruments and bent their heads in silent tribute, as did hundreds of other troops and civilians from various countries inside the cool confines of Saddam Hussein’s Al Faw palace. For once, the opulent rotunda -- normally a buzz of activity -- was quiet as people gathered to mark the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in a ceremony both touching and jarring.
If anyone can steal a show at such an event, the show-stealer was Army Col. John A. Lenk, who was in the Pentagon when it was hit by one of the jets. ‘To this day, I can’t think about Sept. 11 without smelling the smoke and fumes of jet fuel,’ said Lenk, who choked back tears throughout his speech. Lenk, whose skull bears a deep and jagged scar, suffered head injuries when a chunk of ceiling broke loose and landed on him.
In what he described as a ‘silver lining,’ Lenk said the subsequent MRI and CT scan revealed a racquetball-sized tumor growing in his brain.
‘That day changed me physically and emotionally forever,’ said a shaky-voiced Lenk, who admitted he had been reluctant to speak publicly about the event until his wife prodded him into it.
Following his speech, a large-screen TV showed video of the jets crashing into the World Trade Center towers set to apocalyptic music. The audience sat transfixed, staring at images of falling concrete and glass and people running through the streets of lower Manhattan. A member of the 4th Infantry Division Band then serenaded the crowd with a song titled ‘Have You Forgotten,’ with lyrics that heralded the search for Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden: ‘Don’t tell me not to worry about Bin Laden, have you forgotten?’
Despite the fact that the ousted Iraqi dictator was not involved with Bin Laden or the Sept. 11 attacks, many troops here say they enlisted as a result of the 2001 event and have come to link the Iraqi conflict to the strikes. Critics of the Bush administration say it has intentionally portrayed the 9/11 attacks and Saddam Hussein as connected to bolster flagging support for the Iraq war, in which at least 4,155 U.S. forces have been killed, according to www.icasualties.org.
Iraqi civilian deaths are in the tens of thousands, and Lenk, in comments after his speech, said nearly 32,000 U.S. troops have suffered injuries in Iraq that left them in need of prosthetics. There aren’t nearly enough to treat them. ‘We have a much larger demand than we have supply,’ said Lenk, whose daughter, Courtney, helped start a foundation called Queens for Courage to raise money for more prosthetics.
Lenk said even if fewer Americans are paying attention to the war in Iraq, he at least hoped they understand why most troops are here. ‘They’re not here because they’re war-mongers or anything else,’ he said. ‘They’re here to keep it from happening again,’ Lenk said, referring to attacks like those on Sept. 11, 2001.
-- Tina Susman in Baghdad
Photos by Tina Susman
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