Dianavan - GUEST jwp's post is an eloquent expression of a different viewpoint, which he/she seems (assuming he/she is telling the truth about recent service in Iraq) to have gained from the experience of being there. Just because it differs wildly from your view of things, and it's literary style is perhaps less sophisticated that that of many others on this thread, doesn't mean it's any less valid, and your comment of "Who told you that" is a low shot at someone who's apparently witnessed the dungheap of the Iraq situation at first-hand (something which, thankfully, you and I are never likely to have to do).

I don't agree with him/her either but, please, at least have the grace to accept that this person has formed their opinion not on the biased propaganda fed us by the media and the politicians, but on personal experience and observation, in a situation not of their own making and where they have suffered danger and deprivations of which the likes of us have little or no experience. I personally know people who have served in the current Iraq action and, trust me, they are changed forever. The psychological scars, and the physical ones too, are borne by all sides. In war everyone suffers, and I think GUEST jwp's post, warts and all, is proof positive of that.

The plight of the people of the Middle East (not just Iraq) is appalling and an affront to civilised society, I know we agree on that, but it's not the servicemen and women of the United States and other countries who should be suffering the fall-out from your Rage Against America - they went because they had no other realistic option (unless you count Court-Martial as an option, and I guess that's not acceptable to your average soldier) - it's the liars, self-servers and sycophants in The White House, on Capitol Hill, in Westminster and in the world's media that you need to turn your venom against. IMHO.