Professional jealousy

Oh my, how I wish I had the network of people who feed tips to Buzzflash, which gets the credit for the link to this story from the June 9 edition of the online version of Gulf News (United Arab Emirates):

A senior US military chief has admitted "good, honest" Iraqis are fighting American forces.

Major General Joseph Taluto said he could understand why some ordinary people would take up arms against the US military because "they're offended by our presence".

In an interview with Gulf News, he said: "If a good, honest person feels having all these Humvees driving on the road, having us moving people out of the way, having us patrol the streets, having car bombs going off, you can understand how they could [want to fight us]."

General Taluto also said while there is a "small core" of foreign fighters, "99.9 per cent" of captured insurgents are Iraqis. He also said that while former regime members are the movers and shakers of the insurrection, the ones who "move the money ... enable things to happen," the real burden is carried by

the foot soldiers. Some are doing it for the money. Some are doing it because they're offended by our presence and believe we are a threat to their way of life. There are various levels.

I certainly hope that Gen. Taluto, who admitted the insurgency is a "substantial" threat to the government and "will be for some time," wasn't hoping for any kind of promotion in the foreseeable future.