This is one Iraq anecdote that has a happy ending. The daughter of friends of an old friend of mine, a nurse, shipped out to Iraq to do ER work there, survived the experience and is now posted as per the military’s promise to her in a safer and easier environment in Europe. Actually, that’s a happy ending in itself. She has a very good chance of coming home to the states, safe, after her contractual two years are up.

The anecdote within this anecdote concerns a soldier in Iraq. One of the unpublicized frustrations for U.S. troops serving there is the ongoing inability of U.S. forces and authorities to train Iraqi troops or police not to fire their automatic weapons at the sky. They tend to shoot off those powerful weapons in celebration or high spirits, the way Saddam Hussein used to be photographed doing, insufficiently taking into account that those bullets do not end up in the heavens. At a certain point the bullet launched skyward reverses its trajectory and starts back down; guided by the laws of physics, they then hit the earth with velocity as though shot.

The trouble is, of course, they do not always hit earth. Injuries and deaths have been attributed to this practice, even though the individuals hit were in no sense targets. Viz this one soldier, possibly a Marine, sleeping under shelter on his cot, with his helmet set on the floor beside him. He suddenly wakes hearing a loud Thwuampck, and there is his helmet with a bullet hole in it. The bullet came out of nowhere, from above, zinged right through the helmet and lodged in the surface beneath.

The family of this one soldier must surely be giving heartfelt thanks, and it is wonderful to read even one story with a good ending.

But you have to raise questions about the quality of that helmet, pierced by a bullet that had already had some impact blunted by going through the roof of the shelter. But the public has been allowed to know very little about procurement, with GOP members of the House and Senate working for Bush insiders rather than working for the people. After Democrats in Congress raise the minimum wage, they must insist on thorough investigation of military (and “security”) procurement. Regardless of whose ox gets gored, meticulous, scientifically accurate and financially honest accounting in military and security contracting is essential. Helmets are supposed to protect, training is supposed to work, and Molly Ivins is right: we should declare victory and bring our personnel home.

Further inadequate investigation, further shoddy contracting and profiteering, and further dishonesty in procurement would be overt betrayal of the great majority of Americans by the top two percent in the power structure.