Specialist Mike Moriarty is filming his squad leader, Staff Sgt. Kevin Shangraw, as they bounce along in a Humvee. He asks his leader for his take on the broader mission, and Sergeant Shangraw comes straight off the dome with a government-issue rationale.
“Well, I think it’s a fantastic opportunity for the Iraqis to establish a new history in the country and be able to be a free and democratic society, which in turn should stabilize the whole Middle East and create a freer and more stable earth as we know it.”
“Tell me how you really feel,” an unseen Specialist Moriarty prompts.
Sergeant. Shangraw waits a beat as the bleak landscape flies by in the window before answering.
“Then, after that happens, maybe we can buy everybody in the world a puppy.”
Quoted in column by David Carr