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[sgtclub]

A first-hand report of a soldier currently on leave from Iraq - courtesy of Andrew Sullivan:

Anyway, he said that he refuses to watch the news coverage of what's happening over there. He said that the things they show are true but that the media blows everything out of proportion and makes it look like it's total chaos all of the time. He said that for the most part it's quiet and boring. And he has been in downtown Baghdad for a year in the middle of it all! He said that it's really like an inner city that has a lot of gang activity. The people that live there are happy that the troops are there and are very friendly and supportive (women and girls always blowing kisses, men waving and smiling!) They point out the "bad guys" and call them "Ali Baba"! He said that so much has changed for the good over there. Kids are back in school, adults suddenly have internet access and telephones where before they had no way of knowing what was happening in the outside world. Businessmen are tearing down old falling apart mud and stone buildings and building real businesses. J has learned some basic Iraqi including writing their alphabet (which is basically symbols written from right to left) and he has in turn taught English to some of the Iraqi's. As much as he doesn't want to go back, he sees how much the Iraqi's need help and wants them to be successful. He said that he can see them becoming a thriving country within the next 10 years. He said that all of the troops that he knows are very supportive of what Pres. Bush is doing but that Donald Rumsfeld is another story. No one seems to like him at all for a lot of different reasons.

[edited to change title]