Contrasting Views of Iraq
This one, published in the Roanoke Times is a letter from an Army Reserve MAJ, currently serving in Iraq:
Quote:
Don't Give Up
Greetings from Al Kassick, Iraq. I would like to thank the many people who have supported me with e-mail, packages, letters and encouragement. It makes a difference that is hard to understand until it is experienced. Thank you.
My location has become significantly more remote during the past several months; however, the Iraqi Army is stepping up to the plate and doing a strong job helping out. This letter is slightly different than many previous letters. After weeks of watching the media attempt to destroy the success America has had in Iraq, I decided to finally express my own opinion.
This morning I woke up to find a terrible story on the Internet indicating the possibility of Marines killing civilians last November. It made me extremely angry and disappointed. I am getting close to serving more than one complete year of my life for this war and I can see firsthand the incredibly positive difference we are making in the lives of the Iraqi citizens. I want to tell you why that is and hope that you will continue to support the troops in Iraq...
..and this one, published in the Washington Post, from Nir Rosen.
Quote:
Iraq is the Republic of Fear
Every morning the streets of Baghdad are littered with dozens of bodies, bruised, torn, mutilated, executed only because they are Sunni or because they are Shiite. Power drills are an especially popular torture device.
I have spent nearly two of the three years since Baghdad fell in Iraq. On my last trip, a few weeks back, I flew out of the city overcome with fatalism. Over the course of six weeks, I worked with three different drivers; at various times each had to take a day off because a neighbor or relative had been killed. One morning 14 bodies were found, all with ID cards in their front pockets, all called Omar. Omar is a Sunni name. In Baghdad these days, nobody is more insecure than men called Omar. On another day a group of bodies was found with hands folded on their abdomens, right hand over left, the way Sunnis pray. It was a message. These days many Sunnis are obtaining false papers with neutral names. Sunni militias are retaliating, stopping buses and demanding the jinsiya , or ID cards, of all passengers. Individuals belonging to Shiite tribes are executed...
