For a different perspective, these weblogs from Iraq are a good read as well:

http://healingiraq.blogspot.com/
http://iraqthemodel.blogspot.com/
http://nabilsblog.blogspot.com/
http://messopotamian.blogspot.com/

I've been following most of them off and on since before the war, and they're definitely interesting. The one you linked to tends to be more pessimistic than others (and if you really want to see a cynic, check out Riverbend: http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/).

> Honestly, I believe that a freedom not earned with your own
> hands means nothing...

Does it really? Our own independence was helped along by (of all people) the French. In the end, given that we're not living under the boot of the British Empire, I think that has to count for something.

> So, thanks Pres. Bush for putting us into a no win situation
> where lots of people have to die and the US gets her
> reputation utterly shattered.

While I mostly agree with your sentiments on Bush and believe that the way this whole affair was conducted was pretty poor, I wouldn't be quite so sure about the "no win" thing.

Factor in the cruel calculus of war and you'll probably find that the net result is more people's lives have been saved than would have been lost (assuming we don't cut and run too soon, leaving Iraq to fall under another brutal dictatorship).

Of course, I don't exactly think that Bush gives a damn about the lives of Iraqis, and (from him) that is mostly a smokescreen to make up for the whole "lack of WMDs" and "Al Qaeda presence" problem. I personally thought that the war _was_ justified and a good idea for entirely different reasons than the President pushed, but I am coming to the conclusion that we were led on for political reasons and I don't find anything terribly Presidential about that.

> or even better, they pass themselves off as Canadians while
> traveling abroad to places like Europe. This disgusts me...

Yeah, me too. And yes, I took find it odd that these people are so quick to take advantage of American freedoms while they continuously slag and degrade their own country. And yet, for all the people who talk about moving to Canada or other places because of their feeling on these matters, the _actual_ rates of emigration are extremely low. Go figure.

Hey, thanks for the links! I've been to a few of them aleady and they are definitley interesting. I'll check out the other ones later!

Yes, I'm actually pretty annoyed with Canada as of late...but I'm trying to to generalize the population *laughs*. Most Canadians I've talked to have been the most anti-american and utterly ignorant bastards I've talked to. I suppose being a border country to us makes them all experts (though I couldn't tell you much about Canada and my state IS a bordering state *laughs). I imagine our American comerades who are ashamed to be American would fit in nicely up there, so they really should just move...no loss to us and they could have all the maple syrup and ride ferries all day long! (okay, now I'm generlizing...LOL)

Hey, BTW...I heard your coming home for Christmas?!? That's such GREAT NEWS! yay!!!!! :-) It would be cool if Sarah, Quyen, Tammy and the girls could make it too! Just like old times! :-)