Jim, have you read this paragraph from dailyreckoning.com?
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Quote:
"*** "It reminds me more and more of Algeria," said a friend
who spent two years in the Algerian war, in the early '60s.
"Those years were hell. And a total waste. Of course, the
political situation was very different from your position
in Iraq. Algeria was a part of France. We didn't attack the
country, we were just trying to hold onto it. And we
couldn't believe that we wouldn't win. So the war went on
for 9 years... with 20,000 people killed on our side. God
knows how many were killed on the other side - more than
100,000, I think.
"But from a military point of view, it seems so similar. We
would walk down the street and someone would take a shot at
us... or throw a bomb.
"And you couldn't trust them. In the daylight, they would
pretend to be your friends, but come around at night and
slit your throat.
"You don't know what happened if they took you prisoner. I
saw one of my best friends laid out in the middle of the
street. His throat had been cut... and his body had been
mutilated.
"When you see something like that, you just want to kill
somebody. So, we'd go on the rampage... the officers
couldn't stop us... I don't think they wanted to stop us.
Nobody talks much about it. And even the history books
don't tell the real story. It was horrible.
"And eventually, we just couldn't stand it anymore. If the
population turns against you, and if they're determined to
kick you out... even if they aren't in the majority... you
have to leave. Otherwise, you become as bad as they
are... and you end up having to leave anyway."
"
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