I finally heard from my son in Iraq (I hadn't for two weeks - I learned the true meaning of anxiety over this period of time) and what he told me mirrors very closely what the soldiers you've covered had to say.
He tells me the Iraqis fighting with our troops often have only a few bullets for their guns - when they run out, they die. They're also fighting in homemade sandals, because no one has actual boots. And that they mean well, they really do wish to defeat their enemies, but they really don't understand why they have to get up early in the morning to do it, or when they're tired, or when there's a soccer game shaping up. They say to our men, "Won't the enemy still be there when we're ready to get up?" If they are, then there's no hurry. And if not, we don't need to go at all."
I guess it's simply a cultural thing.
Also, morale is taking a sharp dip amongst our soldiers. They don't know who they're fighting, and it's like a huge game of whack-a-mole.
--sherlyle
Recall the 40 Iraqi soldiers who recently were executed when they ran out of ammo? One of the longer discussions in this thread is about resupply issues. How many more problems can we withstand?
Given all the mayhem, what can the REAL plan possibly be? Sickening and sad as it is, maybe Joe Weismann is closest to the truth when he jokes, "Stay the corpse. We're turning the Coroner."
