[Coleman]

update. Another letter sent to our family:

[quote:99cfb]Duane,

Glad that you are still enjoying the pictures.

I have been having some very interesting discussions with some of the folks
I deal with: ie interpreters, Iraqi officers etc.

One of the interpreters fled Iraq back in the early 90's after the failed
uprising in southern Iraq (you know, when the US didn't support them) and is
now a truck driver in Salt Lake City Utah. He is married with 2 kids and
wanted to come back here to Iraq to help his country get started. He says
that where he is from (in the south) has changed for the better and can see
change in other places as well. He truely believes that this will work and
that it will take a while of course. He is always talking with the Iraqi
soldiers about how nice life can be with freedom of choice and how they can
better thier lives if they just try. He also does not understand why folks
in the US do not support the "war effort" as much anymore as he knows that
this is a part of history and that giving freedom to folks is a gift not to
be taken likely. He does admit that it will take a while because "... if
you free a bird that has been caged for most of its life, it will not fly
right away.
It has to leard how to fly and will fall some times." None of the
interpreters tell the Iraqi soldiers where they are from here in Iraq as the
insurgents want to kill all interpreters (50 or so killed last year).

Talking with the Iraqi Commander that I am advising is a different take. He
was an Armor officer in the Army under Saddam and tells stories of how the
pay was bad (couldn't even afford cigarettes), the food was bad when the got
it, the training was bad and all around it was not good. His face changes
when he talks about these times and when he talks about the palaces that
Saddam built. All the soldiers in the Army (definately the officers) do not
tell anyone outside of their family that they are in the Army because the
insurgents will hurt their families. This shows that they are in it for the
right reasons.

Needless to say, this is a unique experience for me.

Josh[/quote:99cfb]