Counter-Insurgency

As American troops struggle to neutralize a covert guerilla movement concealed by Iraq's civilian population, I think it's important to remember how incredibly horrible such warfare is. The enemy strikes and vanishes, and the occupying force must subject the civilian population to martial law - at the very least - and often to brutality which is indistinguishable from the very terrorism this war is supposedly in opposition to. The following is an open letter from a Vietnam-era commando to American troops in Iraq. It's a reminder of the high price this counter-insurgency is exacting from our troops in the field, even from those who are physically uninjured:

http://truthout.org/docs_03/111703D.shtml