MORE FROM IRAQ: The North Coast Journal has another firsthand report from a returning soldier. Excerpt:

THE QUESTIONS I GET FROM A LOT OF PEOPLE HERE ARE, “What’s going on over there? Why is there so much fighting? Why do the Iraqi people hate us so much?” When I first heard that, that’s when I realized that the news was not proportionate to what was going on in the country.

I was in eight or nine cities in Iraq. Starting from Kuwait, we saw pretty much every city along the river on the way to Baghdad. People absolutely loved us everywhere we went. There were big parades. We’d just roll down the streets, or sometimes be on foot patrol, and kids would run out of their houses just to wave at us, just to get a wave back from us. People would give us flowers; they’d give us flowers and gifts and Pepsi — all kinds of stuff.

I’d have people come up to me and say, “What took you so long? You should have done this in ’91!” Especially when we were in Baghdad. We were in this huge building, with a huge fence around it. I’d have a lot of people — especially the elderly guys — telling me, “I was tortured under this building for 12 or 14 years,” or, “There’s torture chambers under here.” So we went down and checked it out, and sure enough, there were torture chambers under there — basically an entire block, underground, with cells and everything else.

The stories we’re hearing from the troops seem quite consistent — and quite inconsistent with the day-to-day coverage in mainstream media. I wonder why that is?

At any rate, this story represents a commendable evenhandedness on the part of the North Coast Journal, which was rather thoroughly negative on the war back in March. (Thanks to reader Chris Sherman for the link).