Hearts and Minds

Great news, America! The al-Qaida terror group in Iraq appears to be at its weakest state since it gained an initial foothold in the aftermath of the U.S.-led invasion five years ago. This comes to us from long-time General, first-time caller Martin Dempsey, who assumed interim command of U.S. Central Command on March 28. "Our forces and the Iraqi forces have certainly disrupted al-Qaida, probably to a level that we haven't seen at any time in my experience," said Dempsey, who served in Iraq in the initial stages as a division commander and later as head of the military organization in charge of training Iraqi security forces. "They can regenerate, and do from time to time," he added.
Of course they can regenerate, you silly General. That's what they do. And little dust-ups like the U.S. soldier who was accused of using a copy of the Quran for target practice tend to help that process along. Just about anything about our continued presence in Iraq is fodder for the al-Qaida recruitment process. That's why President Pinhead has apologized to Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and promised to prosecute the GI.
The sniper, whose job it is to kill the enemy, has been sent home, and the Iraqi government would also like to see him tried for his grievous crime. The sniper, who probably has at least one friend or acquaintance who has been shot, maimed, or blown up by soldiers who happen to be Muslim. I understand that we're supposed to be the good guys over there, but when the bombs and bullets start flying, just how sensitive can we expect the average eighteen to twenty-four-year-old sniper to be? In one of his rambling monologues in "Apocalypse Now", Colonel Kurtz opines, "We train young men to drop fire on people, but we won't allow them to write 'F*CK' on their airplanes because it's obscene."
Yes, this guy needed to be sent home. Yes, his conduct was unacceptable. Unacceptable from where we're sitting, anyway. I suggest we bring them all home to avoid any further embarrassment.