Letters from there...

I asked for a personal opinion on what M thought was the current status over there. Not an MSNBC or Foxnews take...not a Pentagon take...a real take from a 13 year veteran - in the know and on the ground. What follows is that take. Make of it what you will:

Mr B-

From what I have seen myself and gathered from other guys who've gone outside the wire, the Iraqi's ARE capable of maintaining themselves, BUT....There is a lot more aggression internally then there is against the U.S. We get caught in the middle trying to save innocent lives from being lost.

We have the ability to be more successful here because we don't have family's or a way of life to terrorize. The Iraqis on the other hand, including their military, are highly vulnerable to sectarian violence, because the "bad guys" find out were they live, find their families, mosques, shops, whatever... and then do what you see in the news each day. It is very similar to the drug cartels in South America, but on a larger scale here.

What was touted as a religious war against America has turned into a religious war within each individual city and region. Look at it this way if you will: Go to any American college campus and tell them there will be a draft. You will have kids leave school, some will join before a draft, some will wait for a draft, many will fight the draft, and some will fight the people there who conduct the draft, and of course you will have students fighting each other solely on the basis of whether or not there should be a draft....At no time will the entire college line up and accept the fact that there will be a draft...or no draft at all.

It's the same thing here. We are fighting an invisible war against ideas and ideals. The only way to win against a certain idea is to kill all those who don't agree with your idea, and we're Americans, so we don't do that. Do I think we need to be here? YES, I do. The numbers of people that want us here are quadruple the numbers who do not, and most who do not are not even Iraqi anyways. These people were under the thumb of a madman for 25 years, and they want to be free and peaceful again. They need us to make that happen. It's the people who aren't from here who don't want that. They want everyone in the stone age - stupid and clueless.

Ok my friend, I have rambled enough. I hope you can see the meaning behind the tired typing of somebody here just doing his job, counting the days until I get home. 79, to be precise.

M