Perspective: Troops prepare for third Iraq tour

Soldiers with the 3rd Infantry Division in firing positions in southern Iraq in March, 2003.

FORT STEWART, Ga. - With two combat tours under his belt and an unprecedented third fast approaching, Army Sgt. Steve Butcher gets a lot of questions about Iraq from his 6-year-old daughter, Molly.

Do men use guns? Yes.

Do people get killed? Yes.

"Daddy, that's stupid," she told him when he returned from his second deployment about a year ago.

Recruits in Butcher's infantry unit have questions as well. Why are U.S. troops still in Iraq? Should they be going back?

Butcher, 27, sees the war in terms of simple economics: time, money and effort spend by terrorists fighting American forces in Iraq leaves them with fewer resources to plot another Sept. 11 back home.

"That's really all the justification I need," says Butcher, a squad leader from Rochester, N.Y. "I don't really worry about the politics of it. I can't do anything about that anyway."

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