Emirates Tribune online magazine has a summary report about US army personnel experiences in Iraq. The report was drown from a lengthy article by the Nation magazine, who interview the military personnels.
The report also appeared in Al Jazeera magazine (not to be confused with Al-Jazeera satellite channel). Some transcript can be look at DemocracyNow. Further information about this topic could be looked at HRW report.
Quote from the summary report:
There is a racial aspect too behind attacking innocent Iraqis, according to Specialist Josh Middleton, 23, of New York City, 2nd Battalion, 82nd Airborne Division, who said: “A lot of guys really supported that whole concept that if they don’t speak English and they have darker skin, they’re not as human as us, so we can do what we want.”
Sergeant Ben Flanders agreed, saying: “I felt like there was this enormous reduction in my compassion for people. The only thing that wound up mattering is myself and the guys that I was with, and everybody else be damned.”
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Study Traces Cat’s Ancestry to Middle East – New York Times
Print version
A story about cat in New York Times.. Recommended for cat’s lover 
Some 10,000 years ago, somewhere in the Near East, an audacious wildcat crept into one of the crude villages of early human settlers, the first to domesticate wheat and barley. There she felt safe from her many predators in the region, such as hyenas and larger cats.
The rodents that infested the settlers’ homes and granaries were sufficient prey. Seeing that she was earning her keep, the settlers tolerated her, and their children greeted her kittens with delight.
At least five females of the wildcat subspecies known as Felis silvestris lybica accomplished this delicate transition from forest to village. And from these five matriarchs all the world’s 600 million house cats are descended.
A scientific basis for this scenario has been established by Carlos A. Driscoll of the National Cancer Institute and his colleagues. He spent more than six years collecting species of wildcat in places as far apart as Scotland, Israel, Namibia and Mongolia. He then analyzed the DNA of the wildcats and of many house cats and fancy cats.
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