Measuring success by cups of tea

BBC:

For the American soldiers patrolling Baghdad's southern suburb of Dora these are days of trial by tea.

For in many houses they enter in this largely Sunni part of the city, hot sweet tea is offered and they know that refusal can offend.

It does not stop at tea either. As a goodwill gesture, the soldiers have taken to buying roast chicken, cheese, bread, and the Iraqi delicacy called samoun - bread dipped in sweet syrup - as they make their rounds of Dora.

Next week the men of the 2nd Platoon, Gator company, 2-12 Infantry, will stop their patrols, and head back to Colorado after 15 months in Iraq.

Out of 36 members of the 2nd Platoon who arrived in Baghdad back in autumn 2006, three have been killed and 10 wounded.

The invitations to tea are clearly a recent phenomenon, because back in April - when I was embedded with the same men - they were coming under attack every day.

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Now there is a healthy flow of intelligence from the local community, the insurgents have been eliminated or hired as local militia and attacks on the Americans are down sharply.

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Those who have entered into Iraqi life most fully during the daily foot patrols seem to be the ones who are most content with their lot, or are least ground down by it.

One of the 2nd Platoon's young sergeants, after 15 months in Baghdad, has even applied to stay.

"That guy speaks the best Arabic," Specialist Benjamin Jones tells me.

Spc Jones rates himself as second best Arabic speaker in the platoon and, having seen him in action during our foot patrols, I can testify that he has picked up a remarkable grasp of it.

It is not all Spc Jones has picked up - I tease him that he has grown a little more substantial since our last visit - there are hoots of laughter from his mates.

On his many house calls in Dora, Spc Jones has been filling up on sweet tea and samoun for his country and for the success of the surge.

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There is a life lesson for everyone in the rewards of entering into your job fully and without resentment. It is much more rewarding for you and for your enterprise and the people you come in contact with. There are fewer rewards for those who like at life through a negative prism. Iraqis are finding that out now too.