ITS A WAR, STUPID...II

Norwegian soldiers serving in Iraq are baffled by politicians calling their mission a "humanitarian action". Norway's forces consider themselves at war and report that they have been instructed to fire if they feel threatened, newspaper VG reports.

"This is a lack of decency from Norwegian politicians," Didrik Coucheron of the BFO (Officers Organization).

On the BFO's web site there is a presentation of e-mails received from Norwegian soldiers serving in Iraq, and the group concludes that their reality has very little in common with how the situation is being presented.

"The mission in Iraq is not a humanitarian one, here war continues, no matter what some politicians have said about the war being over," one soldier wrote.