The Guardian today had a selection of letters from Iraq excerpted from Michael Moore’s new book. The letters are terribly heart rending.

… I was so scared. Didn’t know what to think. Seeing dead bodies for the first time. People blown in half. Little kids with no legs. It was overwhelming, the sights, sounds, fear. I was over there from Jan’03 to Aug’03. I hated every minute. It was a daily battle to keep my spirits up. I hate the army and my job. ..

t’s just so ridiculous, which leads me to my next point. A Blackwater contractor makes $15,000 [£8,400] a month for doing the same job as my pals and me. I make about $4,000 [£2,240] a month over here. What’s up with that?

… The illiteracy rate in this country is phenomenal. There were some farmers who didn’t even know there was an Operation Iraqi Freedom. This was when I realised that this war was initiated by the few who would profit from it and not for its people. We, as the coalition forces, did not liberate these people; we drove them even deeper into poverty. I don’t foresee any economic relief coming soon to these people by the way Bush has already diverted its oil revenues to make sure there will be enough oil for our SUVs.

Dear Mr Moore, my name is Tony Pietsch, and I am a National Guardsman who has been stationed in Kuwait and Iraq for the past 15 months. ….. I don’t know how the rest of my life will turn out, but I truly regret being a 16-year-old kid looking for some extra pocket money and a way to college.

The list goes on. I can’t but feel sorry for the men and women in the US armed forces. An Executive that sacrifices her troop for a lie, is it truly an Executive that the armed forces will trust again?