via Of the Mind comes a touching letter. You should really read the entire thing, twice.
"I received this from a family member today who received it from a soldier in Iraq.
...
...
...
Then at one of the sites we reconned I saw a civilian contractor, an oversized American who had come over here to be a part of the tax free gold rush that the war has become for so many, snatch a small carton of milk from a little local man who was working in the chow hall, chastising him loudly for taking it. The local, obviously now very frightened, only wanted something to drink. A soldier stepped in between the two and, without a word took the milk and handed it back to the little man, and gave the civilian a look something like we used to see Clint Eastwood give bad guys, wordlessly daring the abusive blowhard to make the slighgtest move.
..."
cube
Wednesday, January 26, 2005
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2 comments:
I hate to kill the buzz, but which character do you think the "local" will remember as particularly "American"?
ahhh, the entire if-you-kill-one-iraqi-you-make-5-new-terrorists theory.
In this case, i can't say. I would suspect that if he already disliked america, his views will be re enforced and in that case nothing has changed, so it is not a gain or a loss.
But if he was leaning toward american already, his pro american views will probably be renforced, and in that case nothing has changed, so it is not a gain or a loss.
If he was undecided, what he remembers will depend on how he views individuals.
If he views them as indivuduals who are members of a collective who all walk and talk the same (ie sunni's, shities, kurds), this might casue his head to explode.
If he views people as indivuduals with indivudual goals and views, all acting as independant actors, he will probably come out saying their are some bad americans and some good americans, and somtimes the good ones have guns.
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