Letters From Iraq: Reactions to the War

Hello again friends, family, and uncategorized acquaintances.

There haven’t been any huge changes out here but I can only force myself to sleep 16 hours a day and that leaves me a lot of time to sit around and write e-mails. If you’re wondering why I don’t got check my e-mail every day if I have time, well you’re probably too nosy for your own good. To answer that anyway, it’s because the internet center is a good quarter mile from where I live and I’m not that invested in spending 60 aggravating minutes of every day staring at computers that must somehow recognize me and think it’s funny to stop operating when I get within 2 feet of them. I think that might be a slightly run-on sentence.

Since I don’t really have a lot of leeway to talk about missions etc., I’ve decided to fill some space with a little Q&A section. My aunt told me she was interested in what I thought about what is going on over here. Initially I thought she meant the odd penguin infestation the region has been experiencing. After clarification she said she meant about the war here in Iraq. Honestly, this was the first I’d heard about a war here and it was kind of a shock. I Wikipedia’d it trying to learn more. So after 15 minutes of reading about the Iraq war (14 more minutes than most Americans will accomplish before forming an opinion) here’s a list of my opinions on it:

1. I think oil is a terrific reason to start a war.
   
2. I think it’s “cute” that Americans are still indignant when they find out politicians lied to them. (It’s the same reaction that Marines have when it dawns on them that the recruiter was full of crap.)
3. The country has recovered some since the last time I was here. There are now dozens of corrupt Iraqi police in towns where two years ago there were none.
4. We should have been out of Iraq three freaking years ago. I blame the Republicans.
5. Both sides have figured out that pressure back in the U.S. will require us to withdraw in the next couple of years. Ridiculous regulations limiting all types of operations have been introduced to limit the last minute casualties and fun. I blame the Democrats.
6. The civilian contracting is out of hand. The obese American lady who “lifeguards” at the pool makes 3 times as much money as I do. The Ugandan security company who maintains our internal security seems a bit overboard too.
7. I think it would be swell to finish a full year of college someday.

While on the web I also looked up the penguin population of the Middle East. Oddly, Wikipedia turned up nothing.

I guess that’s all for now. I’ve got an 11-hour nap to attend to. Priorities.

El Pocket Lint

p.s. if i hadn't typed this on my own computer there would be no capital letters. the shift button and caps button have been removed. (i assume it's because of some sort of falling out with the rest of the computer. the tab button went with them.)