An interesting perspective from some of the soldiers who have served in Iraq. As a friend of yours on the right, though, I'm sorry to disappoint you by refusing to claim that these guys hate America and don't support the troops.

I don't doubt that these guys have seen things that are discouraging, but I hope they are wrong about the large picture of what's going on in Iraq.

And, I would not hope they are wrong, I wish to hell that there are wrong.

But, to all appearances, they are not wrong, no matter what I want or hope for.

Who would know better than they?

> Who would know better than they?

It is certainly possible that officers at a higher level might have a better idea of what the overall situation in Iraq is, compared to the view of soldiers in one unit. Of course, it is also possible that the higher level officers are not getting a good enough idea of what things are like at the bottom, in which case these soldiers do know better. My point is merely that one cannot be certain that lower echelon troops have a better grasp of the overall situation than officers who have access to a wider range of information.