Lets see, American soldiers are being sent to fight and die in a country on the other side of the world not to protect our freedom, but for political and economic purposes. This is a country that offered no threat to the United States and one which we invaded without cause. Since the conflict supposedly ended, over 600 Americans have died and more than 18,000 Americans have had to be evacuated out for injuries suffered in combat.

Supposedly we attacked this country to give them the freedom and democracy they so desperately wanted. Yet now they find that the democracy we promised was just another sham. American politicians are not interested in promoting democracy in Iraq. Bush and Rumsfeld are afraid that the majority Shi'a Moslems might want to create a fundamentalist Muslem government like the one in Iran. This would interfere with Cheney's Haliburton buddies controlling the vast stores of oil under the Iraqi desert.

When the Iraqi people (Sunni and Shi'a alike) realized that no true democracy would be allowed, they naturally rebelled against the occupying army that had invaded their homeland. We now refer to these freedom fighters as "insurgents" and "terrorists", but if the tables were turned I believe Americans would act in the same mannor. The Republicans have wasted many lives and billions of dollars in this endeavor. We are now in a guerilla war which we can never win. If Bush gets another 4 years in the presidency, you can expect a draft to be called for and escalation of American forces into Iraq.

Granted, many of the political and economic factors in this conflict are vastly different from those in Viet Nam. But the quagmire, the ever spiralling increase in lives and money certainly reminds me of another "police action" in the jungles of southeast Asia so many years ago. I have 5 children who are of an age where they could be drafted to fight in this conflict. I wish our leaders had been more honest with us when this thing began, and I hope the international community takes pity on our plight and rescues us from this inevitably continuing boondoggle.