News from the frontlines in Iraq

So I interviewed a GI today on R&R back from Iraq who is going back in two weeks. He actually said some interesting things

1) it seems like the main problem all along has been the difficulty in distinguishing civilians and insurgents since by Iraqi law, all citizens are allowed one AK-47 and the US military is not allowed to take them away. This is apparently one of the issues behind the whole, rules of engagement issue.

2) his perception was that Iraq/Iran and that whole mesopotamia region has been embroiled in a longstanding low grade religious conflict that we were audacious/stupid enough to believe we could ignore or even change with our intervention

3) Also apparently weddings are celebrated over there by firing guns into the air (which has led to some controversy when US troops respond in a trigger happy way or mistake this as some form of aggression)