United states Army Sergeant Omar L. Mora and Staff Sergeant Yance T. Gray (private mercenaries) write in the New York Times “The War As We Saw It,” expressing their personal doubts about progress in the Iraqi-American War as claimed by their political and military leadership: “To believe that Americans, with an occupying force that long ago outlived its reluctant welcome, can win over a recalcitrant local population and win this counterinsurgency is far-fetched.”   But they omit any constitutional scruples against the war, as they close the piece with, “We need not talk about our morale.  As committed soldiers, we will see this mission through.”

       Postscript: Three weeks later Mora and Gray became the 4,067th and 4,068th members of the U.s. Armed Forces to die in Iraq.

       [restored 5/4/2024]