US Soldier: ‘We're not really doing anything here’

[sabra]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16587347/

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‘We're not really doing anything here’

On this morning, 22 U.S. soldiers were in the Stryker convoy along with one Iraqi interpreter, whom the soldiers called Joey. He didn't want his real name used for security reasons.

"Pretty soon the Shiites will be tired of our presence, just like the Sunnis," said Lake, noting that the squad now makes almost daily trips to Hurriyah.

"The general feeling among us is we're not really doing anything here," Caldwell said. "We clear one neighborhood, then another one fires up. It's an ongoing battle. It never ends."

"We're constantly being told that it's not our fight. It is their fight," said Sgt. Jose Reynoso, 24, of Yuma, Ariz., speaking of the Iraqi army. "But that's not the case. Whenever we go and ask them for guys, they almost always say no, and we have to do the job ourselves."

"You do have corruption problems among the ranks," said Sgt. Justin Hill, 24, of Abilene Tex., the squad leader. "I don't know what they can do about that. They have militias inside them. They are pretty much everywhere."

[Zenlitened]

1. K&R. I truly am at a loss... what ARE our troops doing there?

What is "victory" supposed to look like?

I sure as hell don't think it entails American troops going neighborhood-to-neighborhood kicking in doors and trying to nab the guys who were shooting at them in the PREVIOUS neighborhood... where they were kicking in doors and trying to nab the guys who were shooting at them in the NEIGHBORHOOD BEFORE THAT... where they were kicking in doors and trying to nab the guys who were shooting at them... and on and on and on.

What the hell is the MISSION? Yeah, we hear all the Bush Cabal blather about a stable Iraq, Iraq stands on its own two feet, blah blah blah.

But how the hell are the guys and gals on the ground, in uniform, weapons at the ready, supposed to accomplish that? This whole mess has been dumped on their shoulders, but let there be no mistake: It's the politicians, and the voters who elected them, who have "lost" in Iraq, not the troops.