Those Ungrateful Iraqis

Morale among U.S. troops in Iraq is suffering as they find themselves "locked into an increasingly serious battle against guerrilla snipers and bombers who stage regular hit-and-run attacks," reports Edmund L. Andrews. "You call Donald Rumsfeld and tell him our sorry asses are ready to go home," said infantryman Pfc. Matthew C. O'Dell. "Tell him to come spend a night in our building." Several soldiers have received psychological counseling after showing signs of combat stress: nightmares, sleeplessness, edginess, outbursts of anger and what a chaplain called "intrusive thoughts." But apparently the thought that we shouldn't be occupying Iraq hasn't yet intruded on people like Arizona resident Carol Drew, who thinks the Iraqis are "selfish and thankless" for "crying and whining about how little food and water there is and blaming it on America." Drew's niece is stationed in Iraq as a soldier. "The soldiers are suffering diarrhea," she reports. "They sleep on the ground in ditches to cover themselves from constant gunfire from the Iraqis. ... She has lost 15 pounds and is weak from lack of proper nutrition and water, but is adamant about being there to do the job that her government has required her to do." (How much "constant gunfire" will it take to persuade her that the Iraqis don't want them there?)