Report from the front lines

Jim Gerraghty over at TKS received an email from a soldier in Iraq about current happenings in the efforts over there (for the full post, follow the link). Here is the relevant text:

I am an optimist, but I am with a great group of Iraqi's. These guys are Shia from Bahgdad and they HATE Wahabists, and Assad in Syria. They are telling me all the time, in their broken English, that George Bush should bomb Syria. Without going into to many details they may have a point.

[Responding to a comment I had made about the Marines stationed in Ankara]

The Marines are a good bunch of guys. We worked with the Marines in Fallujah when I was a platoon leader. We took over their compund just outside near a town called Al Kharma so they could stage for the main invasion. We got mortared two or three times a day everyday, but thank God it was only cheap Soviet made crap. American shells might have done us some harm...

The other day my Iraqi's detained a guy who blew of a few fingers when the device he was building blew up on him. I shouted at him, "YOU ARE A NO GO THIS STATION" and just smiled at him.

What I can tell you now is that the mood of the local people is starting to turn against the insurgents. The mainstream media portrays the Iraqi people as writhing under
the boot heel of the American occupiers, but it reality that is not the case.

The worst we will ever be to these people is an occasional pain in the ass. The terrorists on the other hand, will be far worse and the locals are starting to realize it.

The elections were a big turning point here. The locals are starting to take ownership of their country, and in something that is unheard of in Arab society, they are starting to plan for their future.

Anyway, anything that you can do to help us tell our side of the story is greatly appreciated. The American people deserve to know the truth. This war was just, the majority of the Iraqi's are greatful for what we have done, and the fly paper theory has a ton of validity.