Most Profound Man in Iraq — an unidentified farmer in a fairly remote area who, after being asked by Reconnaissance Marines if he had seen any foreign fighters in the area replied „Yes, you.“

[…] They blast us with giant bombs in the road, snipers, mortars and small arms. We blast them with tanks, attack helicopters, artillery, our snipers (much better than theirs), and every weapon that an infantryman can carry.

[…] Sanitation workers in New York City get paid more than these guys [Bomben-Entschärfer].

Diese Entschärfer verdienen grossen Respekt.

Biggest Surprise — Iraqi Police. All local guys. I never figured that we’d get a police force established in the cities in al-Anbar. I estimated that insurgents would kill the first few, scaring off the rest. Well, insurgents did kill the first few, but the cops kept on coming. The insurgents continue to target the police, killing them in their homes and on the streets, but the cops won’t give up. Absolutely incredible tenacity. The insurgents know that the police are far better at finding them than we are — and they are finding them. Now, if we could just get them out of the habit of beating prisoners to a pulp [dt. Brei]…

Diese Polizisten verdienen wirklich den grössten Respekt – wenn sie nicht gerade mit den Aufständischen zusammenarbeiten.

Coolest Insurgent Act — Stealing almost $7 million from the main bank in Ramadi in broad daylight, then, upon exiting, waving to the Marines in the combat outpost right next to the bank, who had no clue of what was going on. The Marines waved back. Too cool.

Don’t go fraternizing with the crew!

[…] Man for man, they now have more combat experience than any Marines in the history of our Corps.

[…] There were seven of them [kidnappers]. As they brought the mayor out to put him in a pick-up truck to take him off to be beheaded (on video, as usual), one of the Bad Guys put down his machine gun so that he could tie the mayor’s hands. The mayor took the opportunity to pick up the machine gun and drill five of the Bad Guys. The other two ran away. […]

Das sind noch Bürgermeister dort! Von solch tatkräftigen Mannen können wir hier nur träumen *smile*

Quelle: The Secret Letter From Iraq