Soldier on CBS Regrets People Not Hearing About 'Good Things Soldiers Do for Iraqis'

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With Katie Couric in Iraq, the CBS Evening News on Wednesday allowed viewers to hear directly from U.S. soldiers who regretted how people back home don't hear more about “the good things soldiers do for the Iraqis” and warned that a pullout by the U.S. would lead to “mayhem.” Couric asked a small group of soldiers: “What would you like people to know that you don't think they're hearing back home?”Army Sergeant Jamie Wall answered: “The good things that happen out here, the good things that soldiers do for the Iraqis and how the Iraqis react to us.” Sergeant Brady Marcus predicted: “If we pulled out now, the gangs would take over, the streets would be in mayhem, and this place would be a disaster area.” Couric responded by suggesting it “sounds like, in your opinion, there's no easy answer,” which prompted Marcus to reproach Couric's simplistic appraisal: “There's not an easy answer. We're at war, Katie, and it's not an easy thing to get through.”

The MRC's Brad Wilmouth corrected the closed-captioning against the video for the segment, with Couric at an outdoor location under a tent with the soldiers, on the September 5 CBS Evening News:

KATIE COURIC: Finally tonight, we hear from the people on the street, including the service men and women fighting this war. I sat down with a number of them to get their take on what's happening here.

COURIC TO THE SOLDIERS: Do you feel like the surge is working?

PFC JOHN MARSHALL, U.S. ARMY: I think the surge is working. It's going to take a lot of time to actually do its job and complete the mission.

SERGEANT ELIZABETH SANCHEZ, U.S. Army: You do interact with Iraqis often, and the hardest part is when they say, you know, we love America, we love that you're here helping us, but, honestly, life was better before you got here. And that, I think that hurt a lot to hear that.

CAPTAIN AMY CRONIN, U.S. Army: We're working from the bottom up from my level, and something really needs to be coming from the top down, from the Iraqi government, you know, putting systems in place so that we're not just putting band-aids on everything.

COURIC: What would you like people to know that you don't think they're hearing back home?

SERGEANT JAMIE WALL, U.S. Army: The good things, the good things that happen out here, the good things that soldiers do for the Iraqis and how the Iraqis react to us. It's not all bad.

SERGEANT BRADY MARCUS, U.S. Army: If we pulled out now, the gangs would take over, the streets would be in mayhem, and this place would be a disaster area. That's just my opinion.

COURIC: Sounds like, in your opinion, there's no easy answer.

MARCUS: There's not an easy answer. We're at war, Katie, and it's not an easy thing to get through.