Optimism fades, but war goes on

By ANNA BADKHEN
San Francisco Chronicle

TIKRIT, Iraq -- At Saddam Hussein's vast palace complex that is now the U.S. Forward Operating Base Danger in Tikrit, Army Maj. Gen. Joseph Taluto contemplates the war American soldiers under his command are now waging.

"The enemy is intrinsic," said Taluto, who heads the 42nd Infantry Division and the Army units attached to it in Iraq. "They're infiltrating the Iraqi security forces as we speak. I don't know how big (the insurgency) is, but I think their capability is constantly replenished."

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In conversations and interviews over the past month, U. S. soldiers under the command of the 42nd Infantry Division in Samarra and Tikrit came across as frustrated, sometimes disheartened, though still largely unbowed.

Some of them say that Iraqis will never accept the American presence. Others do not believe democracy can work here. The declining support in the United States for the war provokes anger. The mounting U.S. death and injury toll is depressing.

"I'm tired of going to my buddies' funerals," said Spc. Joshua Forman, from Sammamish, Wash., referring to memorial services the military holds for soldiers killed in Iraq.

What keeps them going in the 120-degree heat is a conviction that they must fight here to prevent future terrorist attacks on the United States. They also fight to honor the memories of comrades killed, while hoping that they can yet help build a better future for the Iraqis.

Semper Fi

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