Madison Ave where are you, the world needs a new snappy, upbeat jingle to sell this worn out f**king mess. Have all the Bu$h spin doctors called in sick?

And now the US media mislabel it “The War for Iraq.” But when you’re a snake oil salesman selling flag-waving B$ as summa cum laude da’wah…

From the front a few days ago (edited by me):

“Hey everyone, how’s it going?  Surely better than I am.  Trying to find the positive in all of this, but it’s tough.  I’m sure you’ve all heard we’re supposed to get extended, hopefully it falls through somehow and doesn’t happen, but I doubt it.  I can’t believe this, well I can, but I don’t see the worth of it.  Wasting so much money, man power, time.  Our military is suffering a great blow, of course we won’t see the affects of it for a few years.  Nobody wants to stay in anymore if this is what they have to look forward to.  So, complaining won’t fix it.  We’ve been working alot, most days doing missions from 5 in the morning till 8 at night.  We’ve been moving from one operation to the next, keeping the pressure on Al Qaeda.  We’ve taken a few neighborhoods back over, and we now own most of the city.  The majority of the side roads are still not trafficable due to the buried IED threat.  Someone made a joke the other day, there are no roadside bombs here, just middle of the road bombs.  There are some good snipers here too, one of our infantry guys was shot in the head while on a rooftop.  I don’t even know what the numbers are anymore for wounded in our Battalion.  Last I heard it was 1 in 5, which if anyone remembers was the same WIA rate from Vietnam. 
During our last mission some of our guys captured an Al Qaeda outpost.  The insurgents were wearing body armor like we have, and had a mildly complex radio system. (snipped information) So, the Al Qaeda here is very militaristic and smart, as well as well armed.  Were taking the fight to them relentlessly though.  So much goes on in between these e-mails I can’t even remember what to write.  Still no word on anyone coming here to replace us.  With the extension in effect now I doubt anyone will come.  Plus were doing a pretty good job here, so I don’t think we’ll get switched out.  That’s pretty shitty, I am ready to get back to Baghdad, more so ofcourse I would rather get home, but thats not an option yet.  So, we,re taking it day by day, trying to keep our spirits up.  Coming home seems so far away that its barely fathomable now, that doesn’t change anything though.  Just have to keep putting one foot in front of the other.  I’ll talk to everyone soon.  Thanks for all your support.  Packages are really nice to get out here as well.  Anything works.  Take it easy, (name withheld)”