If you haven't read this article over at Salon please do it puts in

[thepurpose]

perspective the truly lousy job we are doing in Iraq. Click through the ad because it is worth it.

I just want to post the part near the end of the article where it shows how we really feel about Iraqis and our own troops.

Inside the Iraqi forces fiasco


<snip>
In addition to the challenges posed by the Iraqi trainees, the Marine advisors have run into some galling problems with the U.S. military itself. In February, when the Iraqi 1st Battalion began taking casualties, the Marines took them to a U.S. medical facility at Taqqadum, a sprawling logistics base a few miles to the south -- and were initially turned away. "Iraqi soldiers aren't allowed on this base," they were told. After wrangling with the gate guards, they were eventually able to get the wounded Iraqis treatment, but it was an incident that none of the Marines forgot. The American attitude, according to McCollough, is frequently one of "Well, they're only Iraqi casualties" -- not something to get too worked up over.

There is an almost mind-boggling gap between the Marine advisors' daily reality and life on the large, relatively plush forward operating bases that support many U.S. troops in Iraq. This is a point of irritation for the Marine advisors, who refer to the other troops as "Fobbits," a derogatory term denoting those who never leave the safe environment of the large bases. At Taqqadum, American personnel dine on prime rib and enjoy Baskin-Robbins ice cream. In one of the chow halls there, I spotted a 4-foot-tall Statue of Liberty sculpted out of butter. In contrast, McCollough's men subsisted mostly on Iraqi army chow, Top Ramen noodles, Spam and junk food sent to them by family members back home. Combined with the relentless pace of operations in al-Jazirah, the poor rations resulted in major weight loss among some members of the team. One gunnery sergeant told me he'd shed almost 40 pounds over the course of the deployment.

While at Taqqadum, which increasingly resembles the "Little America" bases that became emblematic of the bloated U.S. war effort in Vietnam, I also noticed fliers for aerobics and salsa-dancing classes. There were weekly jazz concerts. When McCollough's team first arrived in Iraq, he told me, they went hunting at the Taqqadum post exchange for felt-tipped markers and protractors for their field maps. They were disgusted to discover that while there was thong underwear, hair care products and other luxury items available, they could not find some of the combat-essential items they needed.

As the U.S. military increasingly has dug in with large bases like Taqqadum, the trail of logistics and supplies supporting them has grown longer. As one particularly frustrated Army captain at Camp Ramadi put it, "We're chasing our own tail over here."

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2006/08/14/military_advisors/

[Mnemosyne]

1. So glad our money is being

so well spent.:grr:

"4-foot-tall Statue of Liberty sculpted out of butter"

I couldn't read any further, sorry.

[thepurpose]

2. It does make you want to bang your head upside a wall until you draw blood

There are so many Americans who think we are doing such a great job because our dear leader says so.

[Mnemosyne]

4. The idiots also think we are winning because

the stock market is "up".

Faux told them so.

My head is about as banged bloody as I can stand anymore. Unbelievable that there has been little to no oversight! Monogrammed towels and 4 ft. butter sculptures, in the desert no less!

[acmejack]

3. Things certainly have changed.

Thongs at an FOB! And not shoes either...

[Mnemosyne]

5. KnR n/t

[Imagevision]

6. Without the net, how much would we ever know since Rove put

the kabosh to the msm reporting on Iraq war, Rove was the one who suggested to Rumsfeld not to allow the filming of dead returning US. troops at Andover maryland as they did in the Viet Nam war because the public support for the war in Iraq would deminish.