Dear FRONTLINE,

Only an American filmmaker could have portrayed the American military as the 'nice guys' as you have done in your Leni Riefenstahl-like propaganda. In reality the thuggish American military is engaged in an ongoing war crime in Iraq as defined by the innocent 12,000 imprisoned Iraqis, by the indiscriminate airwar, by the rape, torture, and murder of Abu Gharaib, and by the daily murder of innocent Iraqis at the numerous American military checkpoints. Iraqis overwhelmingly want the murderous, racist Americans to leave their country immediately yet you fail to report this basic reality at all.

Vasquez
San Jose, Costa Rica

Dear FRONTLINE,

I am a 27 year-old male who is currently enlisting in the US Military. This topic is one that is very real to me. I find myself spending countless hours researching the topic of counter-insurgency, so that I can better understand an enemy that I may one day be engaging. In all my research I have found one resonating tone. "To defeat an insurgency one must change the way the general population thinks and feels". The common citizens of Iraq are the real victims in this war. We must convince them that we are committed to helping them. This is the real battle that is going on in Iraq.

The coalition forces in Iraq must win the hearts and minds of the people. And this is not any easy thing to do. We, the coalition forces, have already taken some steps that could be viewed as counter productive. We have isolated ourselves in many ways in order to provide ourselves security. Still, how can the people of Iraq feel that we are on common ground if we the "coalition forces" live in separate areas such as the "Green Zone" in Baghdad?

I believe that eventually we are going to have to attempt to integrate ourselves with the people of Iraq, to show them that we are interested in a common ground. I believe that as long as there is segregation between the people of Iraq and the coalition forces, we will not fully show the people that we are committed to the well being of their nation. This is a proposition that is not without risks, risks that are far greater then the ones presented now with the current segregation. But the benefits will be evident in the hearts and minds of the people. If we can do this, we will defeat the insurgency. For by doing this the insurgent recruiters within Iraq will slowly lose the very recruiting pool from which they gain their strength. This is my belief. Thank you, and please, support the men and women that serve our United States Armed Forces. They are simply doing a difficult job and aren't the ones who decided to enter into this war in the first place. Right or wrong these men and women have no choice in the matter, the only have a duty to which they are bound by law. May love, one day, overcome hate!

Mike Spring

Dear FRONTLINE,

I am invariably amazed at the intelligence and humbled by the commitment of our line officers and troops in Iraq. I am also galled to the point of rage that they serve an administration that so egregiously placed them in harms way without a clear plan for long term occupancy.

The insurgency is a direct result of bad decisions made early on by civilian leaders who do not deserve the military they command. Yes, over time we probably can restore stability to Iraq; but it is painfully clear that it will not happen under our current administration. They have learned nothing.

Francis Harding
Albuquerque, New Mexico

Dear FRONTLINE,

Riveting television! I have a greater understanding of the enemy(s)in Iraq, the profound challenges and the potential value of the fight. Living near a large Arabic population where many escaped vicious retribution by Saddam Hussain, I always felt that this was really their fight, not ours.

FRONTLINE has exposed the fierce underbelly of the varied motives behind the insurgency. Truly frightening.This has been more enlightening about the purpose behind the U.S. involvement, than any presidential speech or press conference. Why?

Susan Mendenhall
Westland, MI

Dear FRONTLINE,

Your film on the illegal and criminal American war and occupation in Iraq is an embarassement to all the viewers who tuned in expecting some simple objectivity, not just more-of-the-same American corporate militarist propaganda. Frontline focused on the Jihadist movement yet the real story in Iraq is the brave Iraqi resistance to the brutal white-supremacist, Christian American and British occupation. The real story is that the racist American cowards are having their backsides handed to them by sandal-wearing Iraqi freedom-fighters and patriots. Why don't you show the blown-up Iraqi children and the dismembered Iraqi women who are the result of the Nazi-like American airwar? Remember, the only good American in Iraq is a dead American!

Benecke
NY, NY

Dear FRONTLINE,

I just viewed "Insurgency." It is the first time I have seena good overview of the situation in Iraq. I have always felt that no one seemed to have read or sought out info on the complex nature of Arab culture or tribal society before goinginto Iraq. I wonder if anyone involved in planning the war readSeven Pillars of Wisdom by T.E. Lawrence. There are many books describing the Islamic Religion and the complex nature of the Iraq tribal society. The planners didn't seem to have any knowledge of what they were getting into.

Your program gives us an insight and focus into the real chaotic condition.

William Reneau
San Antonio, Tx

Dear FRONTLINE,

I too felt the program showed a bias in covering the foreign insurgency as if it is in fact the dominant insurgency now in Iraq. Is this really true? Robert Taber, in "War Of The Flea" said insurgent wars are almost impossible to win. There are, he said, very few exceptions; Iraq doesn't seem like it will be one of these exceptions-- no matter what insurgency dominates.

But having Americans falsely believe that it's "foreigners" that are messing things up in Iraq will only prolong our being there because they'll be under the illusion that our troops are wanted there by a majority of Iraqis and so will continue to support the mission.

robert carino

Dear FRONTLINE,

Although this may now only serve as an afterthought, it would have bode the US military and political elites as well as the mainstream media well to have paid close attention to the insurgency and subsequent war of attrition in Chechnya. Certain tactical factors of the Iraqi insurgency appear almost identical to the long standing campaign of Chechen insurgents. Buried high powered explosives, kidnapping of Westerners, beheadings, and internet broadcasting of spectacular acts of sabotage against Russian military convoys. The Chechen insurgency has been consistenly ignored for years at our peril. The parallels are frightening. The devices employed in the Iraqi insurgency are not new and we are late coming in trying to understand them. Thank you FRONTLINE for exploring the other side of this war in the broken Republic of Iraq.

Derek Flood
Los Angeles, CA

Dear FRONTLINE,

I served with Lt. Col. (then CPT) Ross Brown in 2-12 Cav at Fort Hood, Texas. I remember LTC Brown as a fine, thoughtful officer - he is innovative, thoughtful, and dedicated. I can say without fail to America's parents - if your sons or daugthers are serving under people like Ross Brown, you can sleep well at night knowing that our leaders are doing everything they can to win this conflict and care for your soldiers. Bless LTC Brown and the work that he and his soldiers undertake on behalf of our nation.

Patrick Marshall
Plano, Texas

Dear FRONTLINE,

I enjoyed watching your program about the insurgency. It's great to here actual news coming from iraq that isn't negative. I just recently got back from Iraq and i think that your program really hit the real reason that we're over there. You said at the end of the program that some people want to see Iraq fall apart and i believe that is precisely what some of them want. This war is not like Vietnam. We know how to win this war. It's just going to take time. They may destroy part of what we build over there, but we keep making more improvements faster than they can destroy them. We are also getting more support by the people now. There are more Iraq's becoming part of there army everyday. The Iraqi's are starting to take their own country into there own hands. We are making progress there and the people are thankful for that. I just wish that more people could see the good that we are doing instead of the bad things that a select few are doing. Thank you again for trying to clear things up for the American people that really have no idea what is going on over there.

Peter Schultz

Dear FRONTLINE,

It has always been my understanding that the Islamist elements of the insurgency were the smaller faction with the nationalist Sunnis and ex-Ba'athists composing the largest part of the insurgency. Yet the film, while acknowledging the nationalist faction, seemed to highlight the Islamist faction and did not seem to make this fact clear. Despite this, it is very difficult to find serious journalism on the Iraqi insurgency with so much of the media focusing on frivolous matters so I thank Frontline for producing a documentary on such a serious and relevant issue.

Alvaro Sanchez
Union, New Jersey

Dear FRONTLINE,

I just finished watching The Insurgency. We cannot win and will not win the war in Iraq. As a Vietnam vet All I see is the same terrible things just a different time and place.

The Vietnamese wanted their country united. In Iraq it is religion and the different ethic groups. This makes it impossible for The US to win.

Bring the troops home. I feel for the Iraq people but we cannot decide for them. If they cannot make the foreign fighters leave we can't.

I don't want to see more of our greatest resource which the is Men and women who love this country more than anyone by dying and suffering pay anymore. I can tell you the scars of war last a lifetime. Since WW2 our country has tended to forget that.

Michael Moss
Conyers, Georgia

Dear FRONTLINE,

In regards to the question can the US strategy succeed, the answer is the same as with so many other issues; a qualified yes. If US commitment continues, if we are willing to spend the national blood, and treasure, and time to make it succeed, then the strategy can succeed depending on how one defines success. The strategy is not yet well understood by many Americans as it is just now being clearly articulated. It is a long war strategy. The ultimate success of the strategy depends on the will of the American people to see the Iraq front in the [Global War On Terrorism] through to a successful conclusion. This, in turn, depends upon their acceptance of the premise that victory on the Iraq front is crucial to victory in the GWOT. This latter realization depends on the ability of the administration to convey this nexus.

Harold Gielow
Clarksville, VA

Dear FRONTLINE,

I just finished watching Frontline's "The Insurgency" and was left with one important question: Was Michael Ware in the position to prevent the deaths of not only American soldiers, but anyone who was threatened by the insurgents? If he would've turned in the men that he video taped, could lives have been spared? I only hope that some of the footage that I viewed was not at the expense of human life.

Chad Roper
Bowling Green, Ohio

FRONTLINE's editors respond:

When he was with the insurgents, Michael Ware never knew when an attack was about to take place against coalition forces. And because he was always blindfolded when being taken to them, he didn't know the insurgents' location.

Dear FRONTLINE,

General Colin Powell - advised us on 1st grader pottery rule `If you break it; you own it' Everyone ignored him.

It is encouraging to hear from Colonel Brown that `he can't win; and he can't be defeated' so it is a stalemate. We did not need this unnecessary war.

David Robertson
NYC, NY