Your need to place the focus on how many are killed is very saddening. In fact why dont you try and get a statistic that most people on this blog are probably unaware of? Perhaps, how many lives they have saves, schools built, families returned to neighborhoods, communities turned over to Iraqis, terrorists arrested.... I could go on?

 The problem with you Rob is that you tend to focus on the horrible things... not the positve ones. I bet you didnt know a single one of the men killed last week.

Well... I did... Its terrible horrible... and the worst thing is that through all that the rest of the men who DID know them had to stay and continue. Before you go off and say they dont get good mental health care it was provided in bulk... however, they still have to work... and move on. Many of the men wont know how that will effect them until years from now and then they will need to seek out assistance. 

Start seeing the glass have full.... I am much more of a hopefulist (I know it isnt a word) that a pessimist...  I know so many wonderful things that are going on over there. You.. and the media just dont want to take off your blinders to see.

because all the discussion are boring... they dont pertain to me and honestly... I dont post on things that I could care less about. As for needin "bulk mental health" ha! I laugh at that ... I am probably more sane than most. I see the good that is happening... I personally have heard countless stories of soldiers... my husband included that have helped save their lives.

Obviously, as a compassionate and caring person...I consider myself someone like this.. I hate to see any lives being lost. However, the majority of lives civilian being lost would have occurred with or with out us there... its happening because of their personal/moral/religious beliefs. The soldiers arent running the streets amuck... shooting anyone in their site. In fact every bullet they fire has to be accounted for. Instead they spend days helping families find safe places to live to not be threatened by their own people.

Additionally, I am a she... hence ArmyWIFE....  and though I dont post on all the conversations in here... I am not a troll... and call me one if you will... remember the saying... sticks and stones will break my bones but words will never hurt me.

 Haha all you hippies make me laugh.... honestly your world down in OLY is a joke and so far from reality... move to a real city... see real issues... In fact any takers on making Iraq a better place... I know a great Army Officer who can whip you boys into shape!

I happen to disagree strongly. The occupation has been mismanaged to the point that the mismanagement is criminal in itself.

The truth I see in Iraq, that the occupation is unwelcome, that it is unnecessary and unjustified - that it is both illegal and immoral - is apparently lost on Armywife.

I don't think this is necessarily the place for Armywife to receive an education about the truth on the ground in Iraq. I don't think Armywife would be interested in listening to the truth. She is too stuck on believing that her husband is actually doing something positive. Although the occupation is really feeding the US corporate military industrial complex drive for full spectrum global dominance.

She seems to be incapable of appreciating views that differ from her own. It's sad, if you ask me.

In the Course of Events

Say Armywife, if the US military is making such a difference in Iraq, why do you suppose the following statements to be true? 

Seven out of ten Iraqis overall—including both the Shia majority (74%) and the Sunni minority (91%)—say they want the United States to leave within a year. Sept 2006 World Public Opinion poll

Only 18 percent of Iraqis have confidence in U.S. and coalition troops, and 86 percent are concerned that someone in their household will be a victim of violence...

...Slightly more than half of Iraqis — 51 percent — now say that violence against U.S. forces is acceptable — up from 17 percent who felt that way in early 2004. More than nine in 10 Sunni Arabs in Iraq now feel this way...

...For the first time since 2003, fewer than half in the country, 42 percent, said that life in Iraq now is better than it was under Saddam Hussein, the late dictator accused of murdering tens of thousands during a brutal regime. Poll conducted March 2007 by partnership of multiple media agencies and reported by Associated Press.

I think it may be time for us to leave.  You know, like when you crash a party, puke on the floor, break the host's favorite vase, and are being attacked by an angry mob?  It's kinda like that.

The Canaanite's Call

She has bought into the big lie. I don't see any reason have an intellectual argument with her because she is using false notions and lies as rebuttal.

I'm sorry for your delusion Armywife. It's especially sad and troubling because your delusion is not without victims. You yourself are victimized as well as your husband. Your (and others') delusions of righteousness enables the US Military to continue it's violent path toward destruction. Look at what it has done to the Iraqi people. Somewhere between 400,000 and 1,000,000 dead - no one unaffected by the invasion and occupation. 4 + years and basic services have not been restored to the Iraqi people. Some won't send their children to school for fear of kidnapping or other violence. Electricity sporadic. water and sewage inadequate...

What is the US military doing to address these problems? Obviously not enough. Or we wouldn't be hearing all of the time about how terrible the situation in Iraq IS.

In the Course of Events

I'm ok with leaving. But we leave completely, take our troops, equipment and our tax dollars (in all forms food, training, etc). And, if they send terrorists over here either for payback for the war, or any other reason, we take the war back to the region in spades.

 "I did what I was told to as well as I could." Simo Häyhä

Phil posted about how the Iraqi people want us out. Ok, but they don't get their cake and eat it too. We have interests there. Yes oil is one, but it's equally important to us to quell the hotbed of terrorist activity there.

This war is about keeping the quality of life we enjoy here (read less terrorists/less terrorist activity on these shores)(and yes keeping the black gold flowing). And second, helping to improve the quality of life in Iraq for their people over what they had under Saddam.

But if the "people" really don't want us there, let them speak, and we should listen. But if we leave before the job is done, then they get to deal with their choices, we are out.

And if they don't deal with their terrorists, and the terrorists migrate to our shores, we need to hold the Iraqis responsible, with vengence.

Good luck with National Unity there.

 "I did what I was told to as well as I could." Simo Häyhä

morality?

Do you believe self-preservation is immoral?

As for the smell. They, that area of the world, have been fighting with each other essentially forever. Just now with the ability to travel world wide they can bring their hate with them. They will continue to fight and hate, at least until one faction becomes the only one standing.

 "I did what I was told to as well as I could." Simo Häyhä

Who said... I was pregnant.... I said i was going to be a mom... didnt say when :) We can all play head games... See how words can be misread....