As responsible infantrymen and noncommissioned officers with the 82nd Airborne Division soon heading back home, we are skeptical of recent press coverage portraying the conflict as increasingly manageable and feel it has neglected the mounting civil, political and social unrest we see every day.
Please read the whole thing: The War As We Saw It
2 Responses to Soldiers write NYT Op Ed
Help Daniel
I really hope this article gets wide circulation and all the folks who continue to believe in a military solution to this mess “man up enough” to change the course.
Wow. powerful story.
Also of note: The French foreign Minister paid a surprise visit to Iraq. Some diplomatic excerpts:
“Kouchner said he was not in Iraq to offer initiatives or proposals but to listen to ideas on how his country might help stop the devastating violence.”
“”We hope that this visit will herald an increased level of engagement by France with Iraq, a level consistent with the activism of its foreign minister,” (Iraqi Foreign Minister Hosyhar) Zebari said, pointing to Kouchner’s humanitarian efforts as the former U.N. administrator for Kosovo and co-founder of the Nobel Prize-winning aid group Doctors Without Borders.”
“Asked at a news conference if the France was now ready to help the Americans who are mired in Iraq, the top French diplomat demurred and said he was on a fact-finding mission.”
“”We are ready to be useful, but the solution is in the Iraqis hands, not in the French hands,” he said, adding “I’m not frightened of the perspective of talking to the Americans.”"