SOUTHERN IRAQ (Reuters) - They don't think much of the view, they miss their families and they worry about getting killed.
A week after invading Iraq, some U.S. troops are wondering what happened to their hopes of a three-day race to Baghdad, waved on by the white flags of surrendering enemy soldiers.
"I feel like the longer I'm out here, the less are my chances of staying alive," said U.S. Marine Lance-Corporal Michael Sanchez, staring with sullen eyes at a vista of withered roadside shrubs.
"Right here the odds are against us, we don't know the terrain, we don't know the people, we don't know what they got coming for us," he said, his 21-year-old face a picture of resentment.
Like his comrades, Sanchez had expected a kind of "Baghdad run," surging unopposed to the capital in the wake of a massive bombing campaign that would have cracked Iraqi resolve.
Instead, members of his convoy have been shot at by snipers, snarled up in a sandstorm, and stuck for days in a patch of wilderness populated chiefly by irritating gnats
But all of them know first hand what senior U.S. officers are only now beginning to admit in public -- Iraqi resistance is a lot tougher than they were expecting.
On this road leading to the southern town of Nassiriya, there are no garlands offered by grateful young women to the "liberators" -- only a threat of ambush, mines and booby traps.
"I hate this place," shouted one Marine from a trench he had dug by the road.
(...)
Another officer of 535 company, Lieutenant Mark Pietrak, said: "This is going to take longer than expected, especially if we don't get on top of these pockets of resistance. It takes time to neutralize guerrilla opposition."
A week after invading Iraq, some U.S. troops are wondering what happened to their hopes of a three-day race to Baghdad, waved on by the white flags of surrendering enemy soldiers.
"I feel like the longer I'm out here, the less are my chances of staying alive," said U.S. Marine Lance-Corporal Michael Sanchez, staring with sullen eyes at a vista of withered roadside shrubs.
"Right here the odds are against us, we don't know the terrain, we don't know the people, we don't know what they got coming for us," he said, his 21-year-old face a picture of resentment.
Like his comrades, Sanchez had expected a kind of "Baghdad run," surging unopposed to the capital in the wake of a massive bombing campaign that would have cracked Iraqi resolve.
Instead, members of his convoy have been shot at by snipers, snarled up in a sandstorm, and stuck for days in a patch of wilderness populated chiefly by irritating gnats
But all of them know first hand what senior U.S. officers are only now beginning to admit in public -- Iraqi resistance is a lot tougher than they were expecting.
On this road leading to the southern town of Nassiriya, there are no garlands offered by grateful young women to the "liberators" -- only a threat of ambush, mines and booby traps.
"I hate this place," shouted one Marine from a trench he had dug by the road.
(...)
Another officer of 535 company, Lieutenant Mark Pietrak, said: "This is going to take longer than expected, especially if we don't get on top of these pockets of resistance. It takes time to neutralize guerrilla opposition."
USA enviam reforços para o Iraq
Apenas duas coisas justificam a convocação tardia: Baixas ou resistência inesperada. De qualquer modo, encaro essa "segunda onda" como algo negativo em relação à propaganda americana de "máquina de guerra imbatível"...
CAMP DAVID, Maryland (CNN) -- Os Estados Unidos estão enviando mais 130.000 soldados ao Golfo Pérsico para reforçar as tropas da coalizão em uma guerra que durará "o tempo que for necessário para a vitória", segundo o presidente norte-americano, George W. Bush.
Desse total, 30.000 integrantes da 4ª Divisão de Infantaria já estão partindo de Fort Hood, no Texas, e de outras unidades, e outros 100.000 soldados já receberam ordens para ser deslocados e deverão chegar no Golfo Pérsico em meados do próximo mês, de acordo com o Pentágono.
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