Tragic Irony

On August 19, seven active-duty U.S. troops in Iraq coauthored an op-ed piece in the New York Times called "The War as We Saw It." In their essay they wrote that “In the end, we need to recognize that our presence may have released Iraqis from the grip of a tyrant, but that it has also robbed them of their self-respect. They will soon realize that the best way to regain dignity is to call us what we are—an army of occupation—and force our withdrawal.”

Less than a month later, on Monday, September 10, after two 15-month tours there, two of those soldiers, Sgt. Omar Mora and Staff Sgt. Yance T. Gray, were killed in a vehicle accident in Iraq. A third was shot in the head before the essay was published; he is expected to recover.