Troops Struggle With Flagging U.S. Opinion

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-soldiers29jun29,0,4030361,print.story?coll=la-home-headlines

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Though as culturally and ethnically diverse as Americans back home, U.S. soldiers supported Bush in greater numbers than their fellow countrymen during the 2004 election, according to polls before the balloting. Those soldiers who oppose U.S. foreign policy tend to keep quiet. But whatever their views and backgrounds, they react with raw emotion at the suggestion that the United States should pull out of Iraq quickly.

"Everything that we worked for would be gone," said Pfc. Ki-shon Wright, a 20-year-old native of Newark, N.J. "If the U.S. were to pull out too soon, the insurgents would take over the country the next day."

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The doubts spilled out during a Tuesday morning public relations foray into the Dora neighborhood dubbed "Operation Goodwill." As American soldiers watched, newly trained Iraqi soldiers handed out soccer balls to kids and distributed leaflets with phone numbers to report insurgent activity. Then an Iraqi soldier yelled at the children and slapped one in the back of the head.

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The shift in American opinion on the war has occasionally made a jarring impact on soldiers. One sergeant with 18 years in the armed forces described his shock when his mother, herself a 20-year Army veteran, told him in a phone conversation Monday that she had turned against the war.

"She says she doesn't agree with us being here any longer," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "She also said she was still very proud of me. But it made me wonder what I'm doing here. What are these guys doing here?"