From one soldier's view

Yes, the article is about one soldier, Terry Rodgers, and the story about him, how he was injured and his feelings is important. I'd suggest reading it. However as I read it, comments that he made about some of what happened prior to his being wounded made me think.

I've included them below.

"I didn't have a political view," he says. "I'm not into politics."

Most days, Rodgers's platoon would patrol the town in Humvees, then set up a TCP -- traffic control point -- where they'd stop cars and search them for weapons. Or they'd do "house calls": "We'd pick random houses and just go in and search 'em." Sometimes they'd do a "dismounted patrol," which meant they wandered through the streets on foot.

"We didn't have any incidents when we were out walking. The biggest incident we'd have on foot patrol is we'd be mobbed by little kids asking us for candy.

"We did hit the wrong house quite often," he says. "We had these overhead maps, satellite maps, and when you're on the street in the middle of the night, it's hard to find the right house. In those instances, we'd say, 'Sorry,' and give 'em a card with a phone number to call the Army and we'd pay for the damages."

"We started looking for a building that would be suitable for a patrol base," he says. "And we took this building over. There was a family living there and we had to kick 'em out. . . . They weren't too happy about it, but there was nothing they could do."

I realize we are at war over there, yet it's obvious this type of treatment is not out of the ordinary. Nor do I bet most Iraqis said after having their home raided in the night by mistake, "Hey no problem, stop and have some coffee". I haven't had much luck in finding a dollar figure for the amount of damages we've paid but I haven't given up on that yet.

Now that he's back home, this soldier who wasn't into politics, joined because he was bored and enjoyed playing the bad guys in laser tag practice missions in the Mojave desert refused to see President Bush, Vice President Cheney and Condi Rice when they visited the hospital he was in. Why?

"I don't want anything to do with him," he explains. "My belief is that his ego is getting people killed and mutilated for no reason -- just his ego and his reputation. If we really wanted to, we could pull out of Iraq. Maybe not completely but enough that we wouldn't be losing people -- at least not at this rate. So I think he himself is responsible for quite a few American deaths."