I realize that many innocent Iraqui people were killed under Sadaam's rule, and I'm glad he is no longer in power to continue his slaughter. I only wish we were not involved now. My son is in the Army and has served two year-long duties in Iraq. The first time he left for Iraq, he said, "When I get back..." The second time he left for Iraq, he said, "If I get back..." Every night we prayed and he returned, but I just hope he doesn't have to go back. I hope our soldiers come home. I know soldiers have a duty to our country, but now everyone knows Sadaam had nothing to do with 9/11. Why is our country involved at all? Why aren't we finding Osama Bin Laden? I don't think our army, as a group, has been responsible for killing as many innocent Iraquis as the Iraquis have themselves. If we had never gone there in the first place, we wouldn't be in the predicament we find ourselves in now. If we leave now, we are letting the Iraquis in for sure failure in their new democratic government, the experts tell us. But should we stay forever? I don't think they will ever be able on their own to defend their new democracy. We are just part of an unending quest for a new Middle East. Perhaps a noble thought, but a stupid endeavor on our part.

The cost to Iraqis for their freedom is high, and its a price they've chosen by embracing their new elections. The alternative is worse.

War is always Bad for all in the conflict. That is why one needs a real just reason to enter into war.Iraq was not about 9-11 it was not about WMD at all. So the real question we must ask, is why? Bush Lied, that is a fact. He has tried to skirt around that face facts.t. The American people have not come to the point of doing something with the facts.This war is a losser for us, period. The people in Iraq have been fighting each other since 340 AD. Do we think , we can stop that because we are the US. Not in many lifetimes and the lose of many of us, plus a nation in deep debt , which will weaken us as a world economic powerhouse.
IT is pass time for the people to stand up and use truth about this war.Are we any safer do to the war in Iraq? What do you think? We are getting more enemys all the time. Its a breeding ground for more conflict.The pain that we just read about will just keep going on and on. We can't stop it period. Its time (passed time) to face the real truth . Too many people in the US are just sheep and are waiting for there next cup of coffee, while people are killed to keep up with the lies said to US. I belive in the country. I spent two tours in Vietnam. I do belive in doing things right.Our founding Fathers gave us the tools to fix this problem.
Thank You

AFRAID OF THE PHONE

I have friends who are currently serving in Iraq trying their level best to build a better country and keep the tribal/gangster/jihadi/sectarian Iraqis from killing each other but for the last few months every time I write or talk to them I wonder if their sacrifice isn't being wasted on the Iraqi ethos, a character of division.

It is particularly infuriating to me to listen to the cultural elites refer to la résistance, or the 20/20 expert hind-sighters talk about WMD. The wags and deconstructionists here back home dishonor our Armed Forces and the way they've executed a terribly difficult mission in Iraq, as if they somehow were made of a better stock than our folks serving there. Our soldiers, Marines, Navy, Air force and Coastguardsmen are the very best of us, the cream of American citizens.

I was startled a bit when a friend of mine a professor in NYC vented this the other day.......

"Although I started this blog back in 2004, I no longer follow the news coming out of Iraq and I only occasionally check in on the Iraqi bloggers. To be honest, after taking a close look at Iraq, I have come to realize that I don't really like the country or its people. There are a handful of Iraqis, to be sure, that I admire and consider worth my time. But the hopelessly tribal and brutal culture has nothing to offer me. I've traveled in eastern Asia and all through Europe and in those regions you'll find people all over that are contributing to the productivity and knowledge of the world. The Middle East, on the other hand, is a desert in more than one sense. What are its exports? Oil, dictators, mullahs, ayatollahs, suicide bombers, zealots, fanatics, Bin Ladens, and Sharia laws. The entire non-oil exports of the 22 Arab League countries equal that of Finland. I have no more interest in Arabs or Muslims. Let the weight of their collective ignorance pull them under".

Whether reflecting upon the carnage of 9-11, the more than half-century long warfare between Israelis and Palestinians, or the trumped-up, unwinnable so-called war in Iraq, it is my long-held belief that American taxpayers, of which I am one, have expended American blood and treasure long enough on behalf of the rogue State of Israel. I further believe America will not have peace in the Middle East, whether in Iraq or Lebanon or elsewhere, until the State of Israel has been dismantled and the birthright of the indigenous Arab population of the former British Palestine Protectorate belatedly honored. Historically, the plain truth of the matter is that America, under Truman, in 1947, aided and abetted the murderous theft of Arab land in Palestine by European Jewish terrorists (Menachem Begin was one of the most notorious members of the Stern Gang.). The Arabs of the Middle East have apparently never forgotten our role in that theft. They are now holding us responsible. What a surprise!

I wonder if that ingenuous Idea of the "Ditch" may help decreased the number of Bodies found from 60/day to a low 59/day?

Iraq may suck, but we're stuck with it. And I'm glad we went in in the first place. The killing in that area just changed forms, it didn't end. Hopefully we will be able to resolve the issues over there soon. Preferably after I'm deployed so I can get in on the action.

Observing the events in Iraq, one cannot feel the hopelessness of the situation. The U.S. took out a ruthless dictator, an invader of other lands, and a thug (look at his biography). The problem is most people forget the role of the U.S. in the world is policeman, not nation builder. Whether the invasion is right or wrong doesn't matter anymore, but what the U.S. does next will shape events for decades.

The fact Iraqis are killing each other over age old fueds, local power struggles or somebody had a bad day cannot be stopped by anything Bush or the Iraqi gov't. does. The violence will continue whether U.S. forces are there or not. The region as a whole, throughout known history, is a story of war and killing, and the U.S. is latest power to exercise it's influence over there. When the U.S. does leave, the wars and killing will continue.

At the heart of the matter in the Middle East is about the muslim religion and the control it has over people's lives. As long as the leaders in the region are ignorant and/or intolerant of modern ways (live and let live), the few who wield the power will continue with heavy hands, and the masses will suffer and continue to live as they have for centuries.