a soldier's view of the war

Came across this eye-opening account today of the Iraq occupation and the struggle to train the Iraqi security forces and battle the insurgency. It was penned by a just-returned special forces advisor to the Iraqis. If only more people were made aware of intelligent, first-person accounts like this from the ground, they might have a different view of such idiotic ideas as occupation, "pre-emptive war" and "exporting democracy."

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20061211/soldiers_story

Go and check it out - get informed. Here are a couple excerpts to whet the appetite of those interested:

"Soldiers talk with Iraqis only from behind a gun, from a position of power
and not respect."

"massive deployments of American soldiers fighting a counterinsurgency now
hurts more than it helps. When we focus on the military solution to resolve a
social problem, we inevitably create more insurgents than we can capture or
kill"

"We airlift and sealift vacuum-sealed replicas of America to remote corners
of the world; once there, we isolate ourselves from the very people we are
trying to protect or win over. An Iraqi once told me, "How you treat us must be
like how African-Americans felt." If you're an American soldier in Iraq working
as an adviser, ask yourself this: Is the Iraqi I live and fight with not allowed
to enter any American facility? If you are a military adviser or training to be
an adviser, look around where you eat: Are the Americans on one side of the room
and the Iraqis on the other? Do you even eat with Iraqis? Do you go out of your
way to avoid eye contact and thus not greet the Iraqis you walk by? Do you try
to learn their language or follow their customs? Do you habitually expect Iraqis
to share intelligence and then not respond in kind? Do you distrust them?"