Insurgency Leaves U.S. Forces Baffled (washingtonpost.com): "'When we returned to camp that afternoon, me and my gunners were all shaking,' Silk said. 'It was the first time we'd ever seen what our guns were doing to them.'
Capt. Geoff Wright, who commands a tank company, was in the fight with Silk that day in Kufa. And he, too, was taken aback after seeing the faces of his enemy, much younger than he had imagined, up close.
To Wright, known for his wry sense of humor, the daylight fighting also clarified in a disappointing way the halting progress the Americans had made with Iraqis during the occupation.
In this case, it seemed to Wright, the Shiite Muslim majority that had largely welcomed the U.S. invasion after suffering under ousted president Saddam Hussein's Sunni-led government had turned.
'It was interesting to think about,' said Wright, 31, of Emmaus, Pa. 'These were the same people that all year you have been trying to cultivate, and now they are either sitting on the fence and quietly hoping you succeed or working against you.' "
- posted by geoff @ #