You MUST read this book! Martha Raddatz's "The Long Road Home."

Which I just finished. It focuses on 4 days in 2004 when a an army platoon on routine peacekeeping was ambushed by Mahdi insurgents, rescue efforts brought more casualties and the fighting was fierce. The book is brutally candid about the realities of war and of this war, how these men were totally surprised that Iraquis could hate us, how they didn't have enough tanks to help with the rescue. Casey Sheehan is one of the casualties and it is to Raddatz's credit that she doesn't give him the spotlight over the others, but she does tell his and Cindy's story. She also devotes sections to the wives and families back at Fort Hood, which are intensely moving.

Raddatz certainly "gets it" but she lets the story tell the lessons learned and doesn't preach. This would make a helluva gripping film and Ihope it is brought to the screen. More people need to see this story.

folly of the planners of war, not planning for what they SHOULD have planned for: an insurgency, not a celebration of "democracy".

Again, we have a book describing battle in the mournful tones of Thucydides' "The History of the Peloponnessian War." He wrote this 2500 years ago to warn people against such wars of agression against faraway countries.

And look what we just did! My god, what were we expecting!