I think that would be a great idea; have politicians embed with troops in war zones, they can see first hand how their progress is coming along...
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/09/10/iraq.soldiers/index.html
Soldiers wish politicians would embed with them
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Army Staff Sgt. Antonio Gonzales points his weapon across the Tigris River, keeping a close eye on a bridge that was cracked in half by an insurgent attack a few months ago.
He's 31 and on his second tour in Iraq. His survival and that of the men he serves with rely on an instinctive ability to spot hidden threats. A pile of trash, an odd formation of wires, a cart seemingly left innocently by the side of the road -- all could mean death.
"If you don't come out here, then you really have no clue," says Gonzales, a member of Task Force Justice, which is operating in northern Baghdad. "They don't understand what it is [like] driving down the road and to wonder if you are going to get blown up or not."
Gonzales and soldiers like him across Iraq must continue the day-to-day duties even as debate back home intensifies about the 160,000-plus U.S. forces in Iraq. Gen. David Petraeus, the U.S. commander in Iraq, testified before Congress Monday that the "surge" has improved security and that some U.S. troops could begin leaving Iraq by the end of the year.
Petraeus would not speculate on force reductions beyond next summer.
President Bush ordered nearly 30,000 additional troops to Iraq in January as part of a campaign to pacify Baghdad and its surrounding provinces and stabilize the Iraqi government.
According to a new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation Poll, 63 percent of Americans surveyed continue to oppose the war. However, a slight majority, 52 percent, believes that it is necessary to keep troops in Iraq in order to prevent additional acts of terrorism in the United States. Continued
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/09/10/iraq.soldiers/index.html
Soldiers wish politicians would embed with them
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Army Staff Sgt. Antonio Gonzales points his weapon across the Tigris River, keeping a close eye on a bridge that was cracked in half by an insurgent attack a few months ago.
He's 31 and on his second tour in Iraq. His survival and that of the men he serves with rely on an instinctive ability to spot hidden threats. A pile of trash, an odd formation of wires, a cart seemingly left innocently by the side of the road -- all could mean death.
"If you don't come out here, then you really have no clue," says Gonzales, a member of Task Force Justice, which is operating in northern Baghdad. "They don't understand what it is [like] driving down the road and to wonder if you are going to get blown up or not."
Gonzales and soldiers like him across Iraq must continue the day-to-day duties even as debate back home intensifies about the 160,000-plus U.S. forces in Iraq. Gen. David Petraeus, the U.S. commander in Iraq, testified before Congress Monday that the "surge" has improved security and that some U.S. troops could begin leaving Iraq by the end of the year.
Petraeus would not speculate on force reductions beyond next summer.
President Bush ordered nearly 30,000 additional troops to Iraq in January as part of a campaign to pacify Baghdad and its surrounding provinces and stabilize the Iraqi government.
According to a new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation Poll, 63 percent of Americans surveyed continue to oppose the war. However, a slight majority, 52 percent, believes that it is necessary to keep troops in Iraq in order to prevent additional acts of terrorism in the United States. Continued
