Funny, I haven't heard of the government putting people through industrial
shredders lately. Nor have I heard of sports teams being forced to crawl
across broken bottles because they lost. Haven't heard about
government-sponsored rape rooms, either. If you cannot appreciate the
enormous progress we have made so far, I suggest you become better informed.
Baghdad is safer than the closest major metropolitan area to where I live.

The problem with our country is exemplified by your attitude. We no longer
value freedom, ours or any one else's. Because we don't value it, there is
nothing we are willing to sacrifice. From the days of Kennedy's vow to
"bear any burden, pay any price" we have devolved to ignoring -- or wanting
to ignore -- the rest of the world. And we still represent the best the
world has to offer. Nobody but Canada, England or the Dutch have any
willingness to lift a finger to help us or anyone else.

Most people do not want freedom, all they seek is a benevolent master. Our
country was the all-too-brief exception.


In other words, if things keep "improving", Iraq may someday get back
to levels of pre-invasion days. As far as the "increasingly happy"
Iraqi citizens, I'm not sure if that means last year they were 10%
happy and this year they are 15% happy? Please explain. Do you
really think I need and want the sense of law and order that normal
Iraqis currently possess?