Perspective: A view of Iraq from the ground

WASHINGTON - As the debate over what to do and when to do it in Iraq intensifies, some perspective might be gained from the viewpoint of those who face death daily in a conflict that already has gone longer than World War II.

A friend asked his officer son serving with the Army in Iraq for an assessment of the war. I asked him to allow me to use the reply in a column. He agreed if I would withhold the son's name and that of the rifleman about whom he writes so eloquently.

Both young men should be considered heroes however things ultimately turn out in that far away land.

Here is the letter.

"Dear Dad:

"I am not sure you will like this answer . . . In my most optimistic opinion, the probability of our losing versus winning (both terms being relative) is close to 50-50.

"The events that tip the balance in favor of winning are often in the hands of a 23-year-old lieutenant or a 25-year-old staff sergeant who has been trained to operate at the tactical level, but demonstrate heroic restraint in preventing blunders at a strategic level. That's why you've got to love them. And, hopefully, more people in America will come to understand who they are and the sacrifices they are making.

"Let me describe one of these guys: His name is George (not his real name and his hometown is redacted). He is a rifleman in my command who spent two months last summer in the Baghdad quarters of Ghazaliyah (Gaz-a-lee-a) and Shulla in heat so sweltering that salt formed on his boot laces as his sweat evaporated off them. He walked the beat for six to eight hours at a time with three or four of his (U.S.) squad mates and a squad of Iraqi National Police, searching houses at a rate of five or six per hour. Sometimes the Iraqi security forces couldn't keep up. So (our guys) did most of the work for them.

"In the searching of the houses in Baghdad neighborhoods, George knew to ensure that the head of each household had time to place all women in a separate room (with an acute sensitivity to their culture). He knew not to touch the holy Koran with his hand, to recognize Muqtada al-Sadr in pictures on the wall, and to show respect.

Read the rest at the Cincinnati Post