What DOES it mean?

This is what the "unrelated indulgences" comment means in the title line. Bear with me, if it wasn't important, I promise I wouldn't mention it.
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What IS going on in Iraq? Not in a larger geopolitical sense, but in the everyday lives of the U.S. soldiers and people who live in the chaos of that country? I'll be damned if I know, but I am finding out as I am sucked into freelance journalist/blogger Michael Totten's posts from Iraq's front lines. Michael is doing some of the best writing I've come across on this subject. One of his latest posts is an absolutely riveting piece on a day spent on patrol in Fallujah with a group of Marines. The fact that a non-affiliated writer/blogger is out there doing this kind of quality journalism....and oh, yeah, he could be killed at any time....is staggering.

Thanks to Portland's own Nancy Rommelmann, who's very smart blog also deserves your regular attention, for turning me on to Totten's work. Click on her name to check her out.

Pictures from Michael's post.