IRAQIS LOVE US

Why we are different than Saddam:
By: GS12 Michael M xxxx


I am not on active duty as a Navy SEAL this year.
For the last 6 months, I have been one of the
government contractors you may have heard about
in the news operating in Iraq.

There are a few thugs standing in the wings around
here trying to vie for power because that's all
they know. It doesn't matter what variation on Islam
they are spouting...they are nothing more than mob
bosses and the Iraqi people, in general are tired of
it. Add some out-of-country terrorists to the mix and
an American liberal media in an election year and
these thugs think they are going to win.

The Iraqi people as a whole...LOVE US! You read it
right...love us. Terrorists may hate us and radicals
in different ethnic groups within Iraq may hate each
other...but in general, the common Iraqi people, Shias,
Sunis, Kurds, Chaldeans, Turkomen, all have one thing
in common...For one instant in time, they have hope for
their future and the future of their children...and that
hope is centered around one group of foreigners...you
guessed it...Americans...the good old USA.

And there are dozens of coalition forces who help us...
young military people from most of the free countries
in the world are here...and willing to lay down their
lives because America has led the way in spreading the
good news of freedom and democracy to the oldest land
on Earth. And we are all helping to train Iraqis to
protect themselves with sound moral and ethical procedures...

And we know that teaching adults is important...

But educating children is the key...So there is a lot
of money going to rebuilding schools in Iraq and getting
rural children to attend for the first time in history.

Many of you have asked about what our response to the
recent atrocity should or will be. Here is my take on it...

Of all the areas to commit random acts of violence and
inhumanity to Americans in, Fallujah was the wrong place
for one simple reason. It is now controlled by the United
States Marine Corps which is just large enough and just
nimble enough and certainly motivated enough to slog it
out door to door until every last criminal (caught on tape
last week) is apprehended along with his "Imam" mob boss.

As for the rest of us...

We will continue to apply "violence of action" when our
lives are threatened or to save the life of another or
when impeded in carrying out a critical mission. And our
ROEs (Rules Of Engagement) may change depending on the
threat level we face. However we are moral and civilized
and will never degenerate to the kind of barbarism that
was seen in Fallujah.

http://www.grunt.com/scuttlebutt/corps%2Dstories/iraq/different.asp