Malum consilium quod mutari non potest

As many times as I have traveled into the city rarely have I actually interacted with the Iraqi people. We are constantly under the impression that all Muslim people are bad and want to cause harm to the Marines and soldiers whenever we go into the city. I understand that we have to remain vigilant in order to protect lives from those who do want to hurt us but not all Iraqis are bad. As a matter of fact, they are good people. The kids are so innocent and you can't help but wave and give a candy bar or two. Just some thoughts...

Later that day, My unit was given a task that made my heart sink... We had to order a family to leave their house because it was "conflicting"our mission and it had to be destroyed. As much as we tried to fight the officer in charge and trying to talk him into taking another approach, our current route was essential to the mission. I didn't know what to do... I wanted to refuse the order but we all knew that the house was going to be demolished whether we wanted it to be or not. It was over our heads...
"A bad plan that couldn't be changed"
I had no choice, I had to comply...

Last I saw of the family, the little girl looked at me with a puzzled look on her face as if she was asking me why I wanted to take away her home. I looked away and tried to keep my eyes on the target even though my vision was beginning to blur. I didn't know what else to do...