What the soldiers think

Capt. Christopher Hormel:

In my opinion, the future looks bright. A country that hasn't known freedom before has just voted on its own constitution and passed it. They'll be electing officials this December.

Look at the long picture. What's a greater thing for the United States to do than to bring peace and stability to a country? Just the peace of mind to walk down to the market and not be afraid that the regime is going to throw you in prison because you didn't agree with them. To help bring an environment where they don't have to live in that type of fear is a great cause and should be supported by the American public.

Capt. William Hope:

In general, things are moving in a positive direction. The [Iraqis] I have talked to, they accept the fact there's going to be a struggle. But they're fully prepared to accept that.

It depends on the will of the Iraqi people. They're sitting on a gold mine here with all the natural resources. If they can somehow connect the will of the people with a functioning government and the natural resources here, this could be a very wealthy country in the next 10 years. Personally, I think that's where it's going.

Airman 1st Class Lauren Barker:

From what I've seen, I think it's gone pretty well. The foreign nationals I've spoken to here on base, they seem very, very happy for us to be here. We have the Iraqi air force here that we're training. They're very, very receptive.

I really do think it's going great. I wouldn't recommend pulling out. There have been people, more than I can count, that have lost their lives in support of this war. If we just give up and pull out, then those lives have been lost in vain.

This place would go to ruin if we were to pull out now. They're starting to set up their own government. They're not even on their own feet yet. If we were to take out all of our support, it would go to shambles.

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