From a soldier stationed in Iraq:

I’ve rewritten this 3 times already. Yes, we should have done what we did. We should be here. A free, stable Iraq will go a long way towards stabilizing the region. In the long run, I think Saddam Hussein would have been a threat to our country. The people who are running things at the top though, were incredibley naive about what it would take, and how it should be done. Further, they didn’t listen to the senior military leadership who told them how it should have been done. Now it seems that they are making it up as they go along, which, for the amount of power they hold, is incredibly irresponsible. I also have issue with the lack of action against Saudi Arabia, which in my eyes was responsible for fostering the atmosphere in which the 9-11 hijackers evolved. I hate the realpolitik which, because they hold us hostage with oil, prevents us from fighting our real enemies. I also think that we are ignoring the real threat that North Korea and Iran and China pose to our country. Then again, I’m not privy to what really goes on behind closed door at the State Department and the White House.

Having said all that, remember that I am a soldier. I go where they tell me, and fight the wars my leadership tells me to fight. When I am done being a soldier, I’m going to get into politics, so I can hopefully have some say in policy as to where our soldiers go to fight, and the reasons they fight. All that I know, is that things in our country are going to get alot worse before they get better, if we don’t act wisely and have strong leadership.