So Simple

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I absolutely hate reading the count of the dead soldiers in the Iraq war. Today's headlines screamed that we had hit the 4,000 mark. As I read the words, I wondered about how I missed the mark on accepting such loss of human life.

I heard a celebrity remark that sacrifice is necessary to make this the country that it is. The celebrity remarked that great sacrifices were made by men and women during World War II and that anyone shouting out against the war in Iraq is truly unpatriotic and should move elsewhere.

How did I get to be so simple?

I am not unpatriotic. I am simply trying to understand. The case made for going to war evaded me. I am too simple to understand the ramifications of leaving now. If I were to state a case on why we should leave (so we don't lose more soldiers) I am thought to be a coward. Do we continue to lose our young people now even though the reasons why we went have been proven to be false?

I don't know. Perhaps I am just naive, simple, and confused. Whenever I hear someone shout that this is what we need to be doing - I think of the telephone call back to the States where a family is told that their son won't come home.

The country was united immediately following 9/11. There was certainly a cry for justice. 4,000 more dead - and thousands of casualties in Iraq - but what has the sacrifice been for?

I'm not sure - perhaps I do have it all wrong. I would be ready to fight for the freedom of my family, and the honor of my country. Yet I may be too dumb to figure out that Iraq falls into the category of WWII.

I don't think I'm all alone in my thinking these days.

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