Returned soldier says Iraq's political realities muddied his idealism

Published: 2007-08-14

PORTLAND, Ore. (CNS) -- Joe Morris still sees, smells and hears Iraq. Morris, a 22-year-old former Marine intelligence aide from Oregon, did not hit heavy combat, though his base in the once-contested town of Fallujah, Iraq, did get shelled regularly. But it's not the memory of whistling bombs that bothers him now, seven months after his return. It's how the political realities of war muddied his idealism. In early 2006, when he was about to head to Iraq from his hometown of Mount Angel, Morris was gung-ho, but not for wreaking havoc on the enemy. A thinking man and a spiritual man, he believed he could be part of bringing peace and democracy to a troubled land. "I was motivated and wanted to make a difference in Iraq," he said, relaxing after a long day's work in the Willamette River Valley fields, helping a friend of his family by driving a combine. "But now, afterwards, it seems that even the people there weren't willing to do it themselves. It kills your motivation," he told the Catholic Sentinel, newspaper of the Portland Archdiocese.

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