From President Bush's weekly radio address, broadcast today:
Good morning. On Thursday, I was honored to travel to Iraq, to spend Thanksgiving with some of the finest men and women serving in our military.My message to the troops was clear: your country is thankful for your service, we are proud of you, and America stands with you in all that you are doing to defend America. I'm pleased to report back from the front lines that our troops are strong, morale is high and our military is confident we will prevail.
From "Montana soldier describes duty in Iraq as a nightmare" via AP:
Neither the Pentagon nor the news media are giving the American public an accurate picture of the situation in Iraq, which is "a nightmare," says a soldier who is about to go back."It's nothing like what the people back home have been hearing," Army Sgt. Michael Badgley Jr. said. "They're saying the war's over. The war's not over. Now, it's more of a guerrilla war."
[...]
Badgley said the fact he's still in Iraq speaks to confusion and changing rules. He was supposed to be there until September. Then his tour was extended 60 days, and now everyone has to stay for at least one year, he said.
Some of the troops in Iraq have been told they are there only to provide numbers, and there are more troops in Iraq than there are jobs for them, he said. "Morale over there is very low."
