very well written and good insight keep it up i always find information like this to be very usefull and if we treat these people as our own they will know that we are not different from them the entire scene in the tire shop illustrates it well i worry about conflicts taking on a life of their own and it becomes a downward spiral and we the general public will have to posses the integrity to dig ourselves out of it also your typong is much bettre then mina

I think that this piece highlights another problem with our collective vision of conflict. Both the soldiers and the the red scarf represent the extremes. The ones willing to put it on the line for their country or cause. They are willing to sacrifice others comfort, rights, and even lives to protect themselves, their cause, and their mission. Both sides hate that the majority will not take an active role for one side or the other. Most of the people in the world fit into this middle catagory. Can we blame average civilians who distrust the U.S. military? In the present situation, their talk and lives evolve around the latest round-up that snags someone who is guilty and someone who sympathizes. But civilians will always distrust because there is always the possibility it might be them next. The U.S. military, perpetually perplexed that combatants would not have the decency to wear a uniform despite being outgunned 1 million to one continue to be heavy handed in the name of safety because "We are doing this for THEM". My point is why look to eithier the U.S. or red scarf for a resolution. The answer lies with the masses that are caught in the middle. Soldiers for either side are not nation builders. Kevin's keen eye ans masterful prose just bring to light that both sides of this conflict are cut of the same cloth with two different agendas.

Edited by author 11-19-2003 05:24 PM
The comparison between Kevin's feelings and the young men who are kneeling in the cold wondering if this is the last breath is powerful. To me it says there is no real us or them, only lives that are lived on different planes of someone elses reality that don't mesh well when smashed together through the conflicts caused by powerful men who never fight and die themselves, preferring to sacrifice their young.

Dialog takes a long time and is boring, war is fast and creates heros, dialog can create compromise, war, winners and losers. War can make men rich, dialog makes them impatient. Call me naive, it is fair, I have been that before and I'll be that again, it is a pleasant state of mind.

But now I know that I'm not important and neither is our country in the greater scheme. There is nothing that can be gained that is permanent, every civilization literally a blink in time.

We have a role to play and history will tell us if we were part of the problem or the solution as we used to say, back in the day. At least for the little bit of time that anyone cares.

But to ALL of the boys huddled in the cold, willing to die, doing what he believes he must rather than going to school, kissing his lover or teaching his trade, peace.

Jay,
   When the war in Iraq started there was a quote in the paper that I highlighted and put on my bulletin board at my desk at work: "Any thinking american is conflicted about this war." I would change that to "any feeling american is conflicted about the current situation in Iraq." Your inability to feel empahy for Kevin's situation or that of the soldiers or the Iraqi citizens highlights the tragedy of Americans who care for no-one but themselves. I thank goodness for Kevin's reporting, his view and his attempt to report the truth while being in the position of being put in the middle. Thank heavens for Kevin and all the journalists who try to give us a true view of what's happening so we can feel and care.

 ' I must remember as one journalist advised, "write in your notepad every day 'I am not one of them.'"'

I can tell you who you are: You are one of us. You slept at the HQ behind the concrete wall. You are one of us. You write for us, you are one of us.

Them? The one in the red kaffiyeh staring you down... he's probably one of them. Them? Those who sleep behind our protective walls but overact the role of detached media or the guard dog oppositional left... they have alienated themselves away from society. They are blind.

Jay,

While I can understand a little of your resentment that Americans, and I have to include myself, are unused to overcoming cultural barriers to understanding, the criticism that we remain self-centered, I think your specific critcism against Kevin is misplaced.

I've been reading his blog for the last several weeks, and through his personal engagement with the people of Iraq, his struggle to present journalistic truth, and his recognition of the complicated interrelationship with the American army, I feel I've found a part of the understanding you seem to claim Americans are incapable of finding. (Furthermore, if you feel this understanding can be found anywhere, then isn't the real importance is that it is found at all?)

I say: congratulations to Mr. Sites for presenting this view of Iraq, a personal view that can transcends the over-generalized, clinically distant, glossed-over view presented by other media formats. I continue to be amazed and fascinated by this blog's reporting.

that's gonna be one helluva good cup of tea

thanks ,I have some of the answer i was looking for.
Very very well written !

Fantastic stuff, Kevin! We appreciate that we are able to read your reactions and feelings and then add that to what we see on TV screens as we drink our morning coffee or eat our evening meal in the comfort and safety of our homes. This helps make it more real to me/us.

Your accounts allow us to see that progress IS being made. You've quelled some of the frustration we feel. We mostly only hear that yet more people--Americans and otherwise--are dead.

The descriptions of your capture sober us. By sharing your feelings on that day back in April, you show us what most of us here will hopefully never experience...Freedoms taken away...the threat of imminent death.

We Americans are vastly fortunate--whether we've agreed with this war or not--we are "doing good" with our continued presence there. A multitude of thanks to all who sacrifice each day to bring about--and insure--freedom.

And Thanks to you, Kevin, for your gifts of words and images. Blog on...

You don't need war to experience these emotions. Just take a trip to any '3rd world' country that doesn't have a Club Med, walk down any street in the middle of any medium-sized city where you don't speak the language, and you will find the same sense of isolation, if not of the same magnitude.

I can't feel empathy for this 'reporters' view of these foreign emotions as being triggered by the war in Iraq. I see nothing special in his view, either. This piece could've been written in India.

Natural human distrust of anyone who looks different, can't communicate, or whose intentions are not clear- these things are only magnified by this war, they are not a result of it. Americans hold the world standard when it comes to "looking different", "being unable to communicate", and "having unclear intentions". It is simply not a part of their culture to find a way through cultural barriers - to do so is 'un-American' ...