Soldiers perspective from Iraq

I have a friend who has been in Iraq for 7/8 months now and in an email conversation this past week had asked him for the first time his views on the war...the following is his reply. In this time of uncertanty that we find ourselves in I think it is important to hear from the people that have firsthand knowledge and base our opinions on fact not hearsay or political retoric............

"Yes, I have been watching the RNC. I can't speak of course for all the soldiers here, I guess you could find what ever opinion you are looking for. I will tell you this for sure...those of us who are alert to what is "really going on" (the big picture), are glad we are here doing the job we are doing. As a matter of fact there are many here who have volunteered for their second and third tours. There is much more to be done but we are making progress. The Iraqi forces are making good progress and are conducting many combat and security operations on their own now. I agree with what the President and his administration are doing, I hope they are ALLOWED TO FINISH THE JOB. As you can see from the recent school attack in Russia, these Islamic terrorists are everywhere. They will continue to kill inocent people as well as themselves because they beleive in death the same way we beleive in life.
Life here is rough for the citizens because of this war, but for the most part they support what we are trying to do (eliminate terrorists). There was no freedom under Sadaam. You could be killed for parking your car in the wrong place. Christians kept quiet and acted like muslims to keep from being harmed. Even amoung Muslims, there are various sects and the only acceptable one was Sadaams. Most people here are very poor (compared to us) Sadaam allowed his closest friends to have great wealth, and live in luxury (palaces, and nice homes), but if you go just two miles in any direction from where I am the people live in mud shacks.
Most people are very uneducated...for instance; Muslims do not eat pork, however almost every one of them I have met does not know what pork is, much less what it isn't. They know what chickens, and fish are and that's about it.
On our base is a lion cage. The lions belonged to Uday Hussein. Human bones were found in the cage. We have seen evidence of much cruelty, and many horrific activities. There is more, but bottom line, based upon what I've seen here...I trust the guy in the Oval Office, and so do most of my colleages! This War on Terrorism is far from over. I have served in our military for 24 years, 13 years on active duty in one branch, and 11 years in the reserve component of another branch. This is my first combat tour out of four overseas deployments.
In my current assignment I have spent some time out on patrols, talking and getting to know some local citizens, and of course watching the media. Based on what I know, the media's view is somewhat biased, for whatever reason. None of us LIKE WAR and the battle we are fighting here would be over if not for the insurgents...we can't just stop! Like I stated earlier, the ones we are fighting view death in the same way we view life, and they don't care whom they kill. They have no rules and no borders! Yes it will probably strain our economy, but what will happen if we fail to fight them off?