"A whole army is exhausted and worn out. You see the young soldiers washed up like driftwood at Baghdad's international airport, waiting to go on leave or returning to their units, sleeping on their body armour on floors and in the dust." 'We should just be allowed to tell the media what is happening here," one soldier tells the reporter. "Let them know that people are worn out." You just did, soldier...

This is a touching piece, but fails on several points. The use of too many anonymous sources, and not enough inclusion of hard data about fatigue in the Army.

Why are the soldiers fatiqued? Cheney is fresh and wants to augment the surge with a new war in Iran. Maybe he could go over there, tilt his head, lear at the Iraqi insurection fighters, and they all would run away like a bunch of whitehouse journalists.

A direct report of the deadly day to day existence of US fighting troops on the ground in Iraq. Valuable to read in the context of 'a war over war stories' from the Washington Post already being reviewed in Newstrust.