Same Iraq, Different Day - Americans Growing Weary

In July of 2004 when I joined my unit (III Corps) at Camp Victory in Baghdad, Iraq I had already missed the capture of Former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein by one of III Corps' subordinate units-The 4^th Infantry Division. I, like the rest of the world, was already aware that the huge caches of WMD was as non-existent as the Loch Ness Monster. I was sent to Iraq to serve as the HHC III Corps Operation Sergeant after my successor had been sent to another part of the country. My mission was clear.

The same cannot be said for soldiers currently serving at Camp Victory and throughout war torn Iraq. I recently spoke with a fellow solider and asked a question surely poised by many. "So what are you doing?" His answer was telling. He said they were doing the same things we had done the first time we were there. I wondered how that could be possible.

General David Petreaus went before the senate and gave his much anticipated report on the state of affairs in Iraq. The General's "report card" was a mixed bag of minor success and medium failure and major challenges. To sum the report up briefly: The surge of troops produced a reduction of violence in and around the Iraqi capital of Baghdad. The surge had not however eliminated Al Qaeda, Sunni and Shia death squads or civilian insurgents. The question that has to be answered now is how long will the American public put up with the Bush Administration's foreign policy insanity. Insanity being defined as doing the same things and expecting different results.