Shukran, Sadiq, Shukran

I read "Two Stories Down" a couple of times because I didn't understand what happened with the knife in the end. I wasn't sure if "the bloodgroove sunk deep" into Hasan or the American soldier (17). I guess it was meant to go either way. But what I got from this poem is that an American soldier tried to help save the life of a wounded Iraqi man but failed. This failure, though, came from his lack of understanding of what Hasan really wanted, which was death. And in the very last line, did he call the soldier friend or the knife? Hasan was grateful to have found death, and the soldier only (unknowingly) provided the means. This is perhaps a simile to the entire war. Americans want to help but they cannot provide what Iraqis need. They cannot protect everyone from death.