I appreciatred hearing what this guy had to say, the Iraqi soldiers point of view. Nothing which is all that suprising, but it's the first of it's kind I've seen. Pretty hopeful, as the guy seemed focused on the future of Iraq.

http://discover.npr.org/features/fea...l?wfId=1234610

Very interesting interview. It was encouraging that the Iraqi Major's focus and asperations are toward a better future.
Also, I hope everyone notes his (the Major's) comments about wanting to prolong the war while playing to the American protesters!

I don't think we need to guilt anyone on their stance for or against war. A country under attack is going to use whatever they can against their attackers...just as they used trickery and sleight of hand with the UN inspectors or cheated on the sanctions.

Does that mean we should have given up on UN inspections ten years ago or dropped the sanctions because some smugglers were getting through.

Al-Qaeda and other terror orgs will use the war against the US, fomenting anti-American hatred and motivating terror attacks...does that mean those Americans supporting the war should be quiet...does that mean we shouldn't attend the homecoming parade for our troops?

You have to take your own opinion seriously, think about it carefully and stand by it no matter how anyone reacts.

Of course the Iraqis were anti-war...they were (are) the ones doing the vast majority of the dying and suffering.

This guy knew he was talking for an American audience.

>> Of course the Iraqis were anti-war...they were (are) the ones doing the vast majority of the dying and suffering.

NewbieX, I think that much of your message made a lot of sense. The one point that I disagree with is that you have made an assumption that oppressed peoples are anti-war even when that appears to be their only means of liberation. I don't think that history is on your side with that assumption. In fact many Iraqis gave up their lives fighting for liberty in 1991 when they thought that they had outside help. That proved not to be true, and the Iraqi people had a certain level of distrust this time around as to whether this was going to be a true liberation or not. I don't think we should rely on the information that conservative or liberal reporters are feeding to us right now. I'd like to see the results of a neutral, objective polling of the Iraqi people in a year or two to see if they believe that the military action that led to their freedom from Saddam's regime was worthwhile or not. I don't think the result would be 100% in either direction. However, I believe that a clear majority of Iraqi citizens would say that it was worth a few weeks of military conflict to remove the brutal dictatorship that had taken more of their families' lives over the years than were lost in this brief military action.

This would seem to support the stand I took in my "Lessons from the Nam" thread.

John

I mis-spoke, I was speaking of the Iraqi Military, of which this man is (was) a member. They are the one's doing the majority of the dying and suffering.