Iraqis Quotations | Page 3

Most Iraqis are really cool people. I picked up some of their language. There are good and bad people everywhere. So many people there lived under fear. They distrust the military because it's scary for them.

Brave Iraqi soldiers and civilians risked their lives to participate in their fledgling democracy, in some ways not unlike brave Americans did more than 200 years ago. Iraqis went to the polls despite the warning of violence and they continued to vote even when violence occurred.

It helps these guys to learn how to be less confrontational, ... It's about getting them to interact with the Iraqis in a positive way -- helping them, bringing gifts -- rather than just kicking in doors and searching their houses.

Given the critical importance to the war effort of winning the 'hearts and minds' of the Iraqi people, and the generally strong support among Iraqis for reconstruction-related assistance, such a lopsided approach seems, at best, risky.

Getting in touch with Iraqis has not been the insurmountable challenge it seemed to be at the start. You run into more brick walls trying to get someone in the U.S. military to talk to you.

Frankly, the longer that we're there the more likely we are to detect something that might be illegally proceeding or to deter the Iraqis from reconstituting any capability that they might have.

Four hundred Iraqis made a very bad choice,

These women are not politicians, but ordinary Iraqis who are desperate to see an end to the violence and are taking great personal risk to come to the US. It's a rare opportunity to hear from Iraqis themselves, and we hope that US officials will listen.

The security forces are perceived by many Iraqis as being under the influence of these militias. There seems to be empirical evidence that especially the Interior Ministry have been infiltrated by these forces, no doubt.

By the last few sessions ... I didn't even speak, because the Iraqis that I worked with had already taken over the program.