Iraq crisis renews DeKalb Co. mother's anger, grief

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga — The crisis in Iraq has renewed the anger and grief of a DeKalb county mother.

Her son was the first Georgian solider killed in the Iraq war.

With Islamic extremists moving toward Baghdad, Patricia Roberts told Channel 2’s Diana Davis her worst fears have been realized.

Jamaal Addison was 22-years-old when he and 10 other U.S troops were caught in an ambush just four days after the U.S invasion of Iraq.

“Pain, that’s the best I can tell you,” Roberts said. “Praying that it had to be a mistake.”

Roberts still wears buttons memorializing her son. He joined the Army before the 9/11 attacks. She told Davis, although she supported her son and U.S troops from the start, she was against the invasion of Iraq and the removal of Sadaam Hussein from power.

“It wasn’t our fight, it was the wrong person. The president had lied. All the things that he told us to go over there for was a lie. And we had no business there,” Roberts said.

Still angry and grieving, she told Davis she believed the Iraq war was unwinnable. She said, in the long run, it would be impossible for the U.S to win the hearts and minds of the Iraq people.

“I didn’t know what would happen, but I felt like this war was going to go on forever. That there would never be an end to this war,” Roberts said

Watching the al-Qaida-inspired terror group ISIS taking over more Iraqi towns and marching towards Baghdad confirms her worst fears and she is against further U.S involvement

“We gave our lives, we gave our work, we gave our soldiers, we trained them and if they can’t handle it from this point, then that’s their problem,” Roberts said.

Roberts said her son and more than 4,500 other U.S troops died trying to do the right thing and serve their country. Despite her feelings about the war, Roberts told Davis she does not believe her son died in vain.

“That could never be a waste, but it’s a waste because what they were trying to do has not been done and it will never succeed,” Roberts said.

She is now raising her grandchild who she said was too young to remember his father.

Addison's memory lives on through the Jamaal Addison Foundation's focus. The foundation offers opportunities for young men and women to help them lead successful lives.

WSBTV