American Soldiers in Iraq Are "Waiting to Get Blown Up"

I've been meaning to post excerpts from this Washington Post piece about frustrated soldiers. Only .4 percent of the American population is directly impacted by Bush's deadly mess in Iraq. Here are a few comments from soldiers who are currently serving:

"Think of what you hate most about your job. Then think of doing what you hate most for five straight hours, every single day, sometimes twice a day, in 120-degree heat. Then ask how morale is."
-Army Staff Sgt. Jose Sixtos

"It sucks. Honestly, it just feels like we're driving around waiting to get blown up. That's the most honest answer I could give you. You lose a couple friends and it gets hard."
-Spec. Tim Ivey, 28, of San Antonio

"No one wants to be here, you know, no one is truly enthused about what we do. We were excited, but then it just wears on you -- there's only so much you can take. Like me, personally, I want to fight in a war like World War II. I want to fight an enemy. And this, out here," he said, motioning around the scorched sand-and-gravel base, the rows of Humvees and barracks, toward the trash-strewn streets of Baghdad outside, "there is no enemy, it's a faceless enemy. He's out there, but he's hiding."
-Sgt. Christopher Dugger, the squad leader

"They say we're here and we've given them freedom, but really what is that? You know, what is freedom? You've got kids here who can't go to school. You've got people here who don't have jobs anymore. You've got people here who don't have power. You know, so yeah, they've got freedom now, but when they didn't have freedom, everybody had a job."
-Spec. David Fulcher, 22, a medic from Lynchburg, Va