On August 19, 2007, “seven 82nd Airborne soldiers placed an opinion piece in the New York Times that called the [troop] surge a failure. ‘We see that a vast majority of Iraqis feel increasingly insecure and view us an occupation force that has failed to produce normalcy after four years and is increasingly unlikely to do so as we continue to arm each warring side.’ Legally they were entitled to express their opinions, but for soldiers to write a newspaper piece on policy during war is almost unprecedented.”
– Thomas E. Ricks, The Gamble, Pages 189-190