While the “Coalition” still talks about bringing “democracy” to Iraq and winning hearts and minds, the battle is lost (this fascinating New York Times report on the competing battles within the insurgency is essential reading.)
So how do average US troops relate to Iraqis? This UK Times article proves the contempt shown by any number of “liberators”:
“‘Why can’t we live together in peace?’, read the graffiti written on a wall in Fallujah by a weary American soldier. Next to it a colleague had scrawled: ‘Die ragheads die!'”
“The US military has struggled to improve the cultural sensitivity of its troops — often raw youths on their first trip abroad — since the start of the occupation when the first soldiers to hit Baghdad slipped a Stars and Stripes over the head of Saddam Hussein’s statue. Jittery superiors swiftly ordered them to replace it with an Iraqi flag.”