A poem by Moja in the early days of the war

...8.23.2003...

they are showing up...
in strange uniforms...
most of them brand new...
with little colored flags on their sleeves...
from far away places like portugal...
and estonia...
and south korea...
they are here in one'zees and two'zees...
little groups that stick together...
they walk around big eyed...
taking everything in...

the 'coalition of the willing' is finally starting to show up...
it's 6 months into this thing...
and i can't say that i blame them...
i remember seeing the first groups...
the south koreans...
or R.O.K. army as they are known...
in super crisp d.c.u.'s...
in the R.O.K. army you can be beaten for disobeying an order...
and it is mandatory that south korean men serve a term of service...
talk about scary...

the aussies are here...
in bigger numbers than the rest...
and they are some of my favorite...
i've never met a nation of people who are more friendly...
they would literally give you the shirt off their backs...
which...
coincidently i have tried to trade american camouflage uniforms for...
their camo pattern kind of resembles cow spots...
and i would love to have some of their pants...
to sport at the club...
they've also got the biggest floppiest hats you have ever seen...
there is so much brim to these things that the aussie soldiers don't even try to control it...
but i bet it keeps the sun off...
their weapons are straight out of the future...
a big difference from the M-16 which hasn't really changed much looks wise in the last 30 years...
one of the coolest features about the aussie weapon is the clear magazine...
you can see exactly how much ammo you have left...

i was just in the chow hall for breakfast...
and many different nationalities of soldiers were eating...
eyeing our american bacon...
wondering why it is burnt to a crisp...
and i was checking these soldiers out...
the balken and former soviet republic soldiers just have a certain look about them...
even if they weren't in uniform i could probably gather from the shape of their faces that they were definitely not american...

some of these countries wear the old skool american desert uniforms...
the cookie uniforms...
because they kind of look like chocolate chip cookies...
but they wear them very well...
and you can look right at these uniforms and see impeccable creases and unstained trousers...
they are brand spanking new and hot out of the factory...
i get the feeling these countries offering their support want to make a good impression...
they want to be seen as professional world powers...
and helpful allies...
but still they are only here...
so far...
in one'zees and two'zees...

but i wonder...
how many of my troops would i send from mojaland...
to take the burden off a country that started a war...
and quite possibly bit off more then their it's '1st world mouth' could chew...
how many troops would i be willing to quite possibly sacrifice so that american troops could hop on a plane...
and head back to the great states of america...
how willing would my coalition really be...
can i really blame them...

it would be nice to see whole butt loads of dutch soldiers...
and portuguese...
and macedonians...
and moroccans...
but i'm not going to hold my breath...
the bombing of the u.n. building was probably the dumbest thing the militants could of done...
i hope that the moron that thought up that ingenious plan to oust the occupying forces from iraq was driving the cement truck filled with explosives...
because someone who has that little common sense should not be in charge of other human lives...

i'm feeling an increased number of u.n. troops in this area in the near future...
and the tides of this war are a changing...
but maybe not so much in the ways that we would expect...
america doesn't want to relinquish it's power over this country...
but it also doesn't want the burden of rebuilding to fall solely on it's shoulders...
it wants it's cake and to eat it too...
preverbaly speaking of course...

i remember reading that the u.n. didn't want american support from our military...
it didn't want to be seen as part of our occupying force...
but i don't think that the militants care to much for world national groups...
or the subtle differences of outside forces now staking a 'claim' on a country thrown into chaos...
no matter how good for this country that 'claim' may be...
i just wish that these militants could see that it is a hell of a lot easier to destroy then it is to rebuild...
pushing a button and creating a crater takes no effort...
picking up a hammer and driving a nail...
well that takes work...

and maybe that advice could be tossed back and forth like a volley ball.