My brother's best friend died in Iraq. He was killed the same day my brother got home to Germany for two weeks of leave. The kid got engaged not too long before going to Iraq.
I wish this war would end. Death is getting too close. My brother, father, and brother-in-law each survived a tour in Iraq with little to no (physical) wounds. Now my brother's halfway through his second tour and death just keeps brushing his shoulder.
This is why I'm against the war in Iraq. I'm no pacifist; I believe in and support fully the idea of war as a solution to major issues. I wouldn't be alive if it wasn't for war, my country would not exist without war, and the world itself would be in shambles if many of the leaders, past and present, were not stopped through war from conquering and marching across the world.
I do not, however, believe my nation should act as a superhero for the weak. Our boys and girls in Iraq have no superpowers. They're just regular people and they die every day under the flag of bringing democracy to Iraq (yeah, right). Fuck that.
What have other nations throughout history done when they wanted a change in regime? What did the colonists do when they felt oppressed? The men that would become Americans put their lives on hold and took up their muskets and defeated one of the largest nations of the era to claim their own freedom. They fought and bled and died to be free. They didn't wait for the world's big brother to come and save them. They didn't need the sons and daughters of another nation to set them free.
So, fuck Iraq and the Iraqis.
Let them fight if they want to be free. If it's really all about freeing Iraq (which it obviously is not), then let them fight to be free.
Don't tell me that we're there to bring them democracy if it means that American men and women are going to die for the freedom of just another sorry ass can't help themselves nation.