Serving in Iraq convinces Roanoker (withdrawal "a critical mistake")

[Barrett808]

Serving in Iraq convinces Roanoker
David Diaz, executive director of Downtown Roanoke Inc., has seen Iraq's progress.
Duncan Adams
The Roanoke Times

The Middle East greeted an ambivalent but duty-bound David Diaz with suffocating heat, howling sandstorms and penetrating grit.

On Aug. 5, he and about 200 other Army reservists assigned to the 80th Institutional Training Division arrived in Kuwait, where they learned quickly that protective gear does not defeat windblown sand.

...

Did Diaz return to the U.S. on emergency leave with an agenda -- to offer a positive spin that could help counter growing concerns among Americans about the U.S. exit strategy? How do we know that's not his strategy, especially after he discloses that superior officers encouraged him to talk about his experiences in Iraq?

"You don't," he said. "But intelligence officers are not public affairs officers. We're analysts. I can tell you that the direction we've gotten from on high is that there is a concern about public opinion out there and they want to set the record straight.

"Have I been coached about what to say? No. Nobody said, 'Diaz, you've got to go out there and say this.' "

(more)

http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/wb/xp-46076

[wakeme2008]

1. LOL

"But after four months in Iraq, most of it spent in Baghdad, Diaz said his optimism has grown. "

Green zone weanies.....