Most Profound Man in Iraq

[A]n unidentified farmer in a fairly remote area who, after being asked by Reconnaissance Marines if he had seen any foreign fighters in the area replied "Yes, you."

Taken from "[a] Marine's letter home, with its frank description of life in "Dante's inferno," [that] has been circulating through generals' in-boxes."

Profound, indeed.

Meanwhile, in other news . . .

The troops [in Iraq] say it's frustrating not to trust their Iraqi counterparts. Do soldiers here ever ask themselves, "Why are we here? Is this our war anymore?"

"Oh yes, all the time. I ask myself that a lot, too," says Spc. Vernon Roberson of 1-14 Cavalry. "We've been here for so long and we've done so much, but it's just so far we can go."

After the mission, the soldiers tell us their morale remains high, but insist Iraqis need to do more.

"It's time for them to take the reins and take responsibility for their country," they say.

Until then, it's U.S. troops mediating, fighting and dying.

This is in stark contrast to what we heard from Ret. Colonel Hammes last week.

I don't think there's a lack of courage on the part of Iraqis. There are very confusing signals from the United States. And for all of our rhetoric that we will support them, they watch what we do and what we are doing is not supporting them.

Regardless of whether American troops are doing too much, as suggested by this MSNBC report and other government officials, or not doing enough as Colonel Hammes insists, one thing is painfully clear - Americans do NOT belong in Iraq, nor do they belong in the more than 100 American colonial military bases around the globe.

Enough is enough - bring the troops home.

America was never meant to be an Imperial Empire.