The Empire Strikes Out

A story in the Washington Post, "Waiting to Get Blown Up," goes to the heart of the confusion, disgust and anger that, apparently, many U.S. troops in Iraq now openly express. Sent on a fool's errand by politicians who lied about the reasons for sending them, the soldiers can be counted among our war mongers' victims.

Here are some of their comments:

BAGHDAD, July 26 Army Staff Sgt. Jose Sixtos considered the simple question about morale for more than an hour...."Think of what you hate most about your job. Then think of doing what you hate most for five straight hours, every single day, sometimes twice a day, in 120-degree heat," he said. "Then ask how morale is."

Frustrated? "You have no idea," he said. ....

"It sucks. Honestly, it just feels like we're driving around waiting to get blown up. That's the most honest answer I could give you," said Spec. Tim Ivey, 28, of San Antonio, a muscular former backup fullback for Baylor University. "You lose a couple friends and it gets hard." ....

[Spec. Joshua Steffey, 24, of Asheville, N.C.] said he wished "somebody would explain to us, 'Hey, this is what we're working for.' " With a stream of expletives, he said he could not care less "if Iraq's free" or "if they're a democracy." ....

[Spec. David Fulcher, 22, a medic from Lynchburg, Va., who sat alongside Steffey]... "It's like this never-ending battle, like, we find one IED, if we do find it before it hits us, so what? You know it's just like if the cops make a big bust, next week the next higher-up puts more back out there."

"My personal opinion, I don't speak for the rest of anybody, I just speak for me personally, I think civil war is going to happen regardless," Steffey responded.

"Maybe this country needs it: One side has to win. Be it Sunni, be it Shiite, one side has to win. It's apparent, these people have made it obvious they can't live in unity."