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Soldier: We're just 'putting a Band-Aid' on Iraq until we leave MICHAEL KAMBER Many American soldiers who were once firm believers of the US mission in Iraq are starting to question why they are still in the country, reports the International Herald Tribune. "In Mosul, in 2003, it felt like we were making the city a better place," describes Staff Sergeant David Safstrom. "There was no sectarian violence, Saddam was gone, we were tracking down the bad guys. It felt awesome." But now on his third tour of duty, he has begun to question his mission. After killing a member of the Iraqi Army in the act of setting up a road side bomb, Safstrom began to wonder what he and his comrades were still doing in Iraq.
"We're helping guys that are trying to kill us. We help them in the day. They turn around at night and try to kill us," he said. Only a small minority of the Delta Company soldiers, of which he is one, still firmly support the US involvement in the war in Iraq. Safstrom rejects the contention made by made war supporters that if Americans leave to early, the country will descend into chaos. "If we stayed here for 5, even 10 more years, the day we leave here these guys will go crazy," he told the IHT. "It would go straight into a civil war. That's how it feels, like we're putting a Band-Aid on this country until we leave here." Excepts follow: # ... With few reliable surveys of soldiers' attitudes, it is impossible to simply extrapolate from the small number of soldiers in Delta Company. But in interviews with more than a dozen soldiers over a one-week period, most said they were disillusioned by repeated deployments, by what they saw as the abysmal performance of Iraqi security forces and by a conflict that they considered a civil war, one they had no ability to stop. They had seen shadowy militia commanders installed as Iraqi Army officers, they said, had come under increasing attack from roadside bombs - planted within sight of Iraqi Army checkpoints - and had fought against Iraqi soldiers whom they thought were their allies. # ---------------------------------------------------
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