“A U.S. military spokesman, [an air force TECH SGT in the green zone?] responding to a query about the soldiers, was incredulous. “Just so I understand this clearly, you saw U.S. soldiers at a nightclub in downtown Baghdad outside of the Green Zone in uniform drinking and dancing?”

“Under a Status of Forces Agreement the U.S. and Iraqi governments signed in November, an American soldier who commits a serious crime off base and off duty is subject to Iraqi laws, although the United States retains the final word in determining whether a soldier was off duty. Drinking and dancing may create a hard-to-dispute impression that a soldier was at leisure.”

“it was impossible to know how many U.S. soldiers in Baghdad have the opportunity or the inclination to drink a beer while on patrol, apparently in violation of rules banning alcohol consumption in combat zones.”

Such Bullshit! The intent of the article, if you really read it, is that we gave the locals 10k to pacify them and they turn it into a whore house where we now go and drink alcohol and cavort with prostitutes – or “hired entertainers” as the reporter likes to say.
Is it me or can the washpo not control it’s zeal and disdain for the coalition soldier and it’s efforts even in the face of blatant success? This article is not as bizarre as it seems, it is fact something benign that is made to look seedy and is fact an insult to our soldiers who might likely face an ambush around the corner from that stop or later in the patrol. Having the locals on wanting you there makes your safety their concern and is business end of COIN ops.