We talk. They fought.

We talk. They fought.: "We talk. They fought.
Sunday, January 08, 2006
HARRY ESTEVE

In the political uproar over the war in Iraq, it's easy to miss the voices of those who served there.

Yet some of the grittiest, most clear-eyed assessments can be heard from the soldiers, Marines and airmen who saw the war as it happened and came home to talk about it.

For that kind of ground-level view, The Oregonian interviewed a Marine who was awarded a Bronze Star after an intense firefight during the 2004 occupation of Fallujah; an Oregon Air National Guard major who left his job as mayor of Monmouth to direct airstrikes against insurgents near the Syrian border; and an Army reservist who interrupted his business management career to walk the streets of Mosul with a backpack full of cash, paying Iraqi contractors to rebuild schools and bridges."