Tonight - daytime in Iraq - CNN's correspondent in the north, Brent Sadler, ran across thousands and thousands of former Iraqi soldiers simply walking down the road in an endless line, having left their disbanded units behind.
They didn't look like a defeated army: No stooped postures, no expressions of fear or shame or anger. Smiles everywhere - in fact, one after another, they appeared almost giddy. I saw two literally skipping - in bare feet - down the asphalt road in the middle of virtually nowhere. Sadler interviewed some of them, and they confirmed that they took very few casualties from American attacks, which concentrated on leadership and other critical targets. They affirmed that they had had no desire to fight for Saddam, and they described their service as conscripts in terms that made it sound very much like indefinite imprisonment. (One man described numerous escape attempts over his nine years of service. Others described punishments such as humiliation or execution for deserters.) They said they were looking forward to re-joining their families in the south - expecting a seven- to eight-day walk, with no money, no provisions, having to depend on handouts (or whatever organized aid may come)... and laughing all the way.
Gosh, what a horrible quagmire... Vietnam redux, fersure.