Sad day in Mosul

I woke up today to the news that some 19 soldiers and 57+ other personnels were killed and injured at the mess hall at Foward Operation Base Marez. This has been the most direct and accurate hit on a mess hall in Mosul in a while. I remember the numerous times when I was in Mosul, how the insurgents tried to aim at our mess hall, as well as the gym, many times, I got really lucky and walked away minutes before the mortar hit.

I don't know whether or not we struck back at the bastards that tried to hit the chow hall, I do recall a lot of anger felt by those of us who wondered why, with the available technology (we have radars that can track rocket/mortar movements), we are not firing back at the insurgents, and how many people would have to be blown up before those in charge would decide to do something about it.

I'm sad for those whose lives and limbs have been cut short, as well as sad about those in charge who doesn't seem to have a clue as to what to do about Iraq. I'm not opposed to getting rid of Saddam and his regime, but I just wonder how much more we will have to pay in US lives before the Iraqis are finally going to get up and help themselves.

I don't see the US pulling out of this anytime soon, I think that as more information gets gathered, I only see us staying over there, not only fighting the insurgent sectors, but also possibly countries like Syria and Iran. I really hope that I'm wrong on that one!