Monday, January 12, 2004

So I guess even our counterinsurgency forces are Bush-hating, America-hating, sandal-wearing peaceniks. This is from Peter Maass's fine New York Times Magazine cover story on Major John Nagl, a counterinsurgency theorist who's putting his knowledge into practice in Iraq -- and finding it a struggle:

A few hours after the car bomb detonated, the American military announced that Saddam Hussein had been captured. The news did not elicit shouts of joy at Nagl's base. The reaction among Nagl's men was summed up by a soldier who didn't hesitate when I asked whether he thought Hussein's capture would make his job easier. ''Nah, there are too many bad people here,'' he replied. ''They don't need Saddam Hussein to tell them to do bad things.''

What?! That soldier didn't think he was safer with Saddam captured? Why does he hate freedom?

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