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Originally Posted by CptSternn
*snip*
...and thats why the people there are soooo happy they are meeting the US troops in the streets with flowers.
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I don't know about flowers, but I know that this happens quite often;
Image credit goes to a friend of mine in the Air Force who did two tours over in Iraq. Original image can be found on his profile
HERE.
A quick story here; he told me about his time over there and one day his unit was out and were watching a couple of local children playing soccer. One kid tripped and injured his leg real bad. Him and other troops immediately came to the kid's aid and made a splint for his leg. Have another friend in the DIA who told me how one of the most influential local clerics (
who basically acts as the law in the town since it's mostly guarded by militias) invited him into his home for tea as a guest. Alot of the towns people know him and treat him with respect, often approaching him with a smile and well wishes.
You can always get the whole story from US soldiers, because 1.) Alot of them disfavor the constant slander that the media throws at them and tries to compensate for the scare tatics that news agencies report on 24/7 by offering up humanitarian stories all the time. That's where you hear about how the majority of citizens really treat and regard US soldiers who often go above and beyond the call of duty to help the average Iraqi, and 2.) They certainly won't discount the otherside too, as it's a little hard to ignore those instances in which people are shooting at you or firing RPGs at the side of a base in the middle of the night.
All I can say is talk to a number of US soldiers and you'll see that alot of Iraqis do smile, wave, and cheer on American and Coalition soldiers over there daily.