Nothing can quite describe life in Iraq (Susman / LAT)

DISPATCH FROM BAGHDAD
People always ask what it's like -- but unless you live here, with the chaos and the checkpoints and soldiers and fear, it's hard to explain
By Tina Susman
November 10, 2008

... Baghdad, like any big city, is a porridge of ugliness, beauty, charm, humor, scowls, color and grayness, but with a twist: It is under military occupation, and signs of U.S. and Iraq security forces are everywhere. There are armed men in uniform at intersections, concrete walls to control cars and people, and checkpoints that don't let down their guard for anyone -- not even a man on the way to his own wedding.

Somehow, life burbles on around these jarring barriers. Sheep graze as American armored vehicles idle nearby; markets hum as American troops in battle gear and muddy boots tramp through; children swarm a pickup truck as Iraqi soldiers hurl U.S.-donated food packs and book bags into the crowd.

U.S. forces sometimes come through the neighborhoods and ask the locals what they think of the way things are going. The reactions are by no means the way to measure Iraqi sentiments after nearly six years of war. Iraqis often offer different views when not in the presence of U.S. forces. Take some of the opinions expressed recently when American troops were not in earshot: ...

Hussein Ali, the owner of an electronics shop in Najaf, south of Baghdad, shared Raheem's dislike for the American troops but disagreed with the idea that they should stay to keep things under control. "The presence of the occupation is like a disease in our body," he said ...

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iraqdispatch10-2008nov10,0,1647805.story

America did this. America is doing this. We are OCCUPYING a sovereign country with our military. The very thing I grew up condemning when it was done by "another" country, I am now part and parcel of. Its sickening.