Four years ago we promised the Iraqis Democracy. We promised them freedom from Saddam and his oppressive regime and to recreate, in the Middle East, the same society that we enjoy here in the United States. We were going to give to the Iraqi people freedom from everything that we decided was wrong with their country and let them start living the American Dream.

In return, all we were asking from Iraq was entitlement to their natural resources and that we use their neighborhoods to host our perpetual War Against Terror. All we were asking from the Iraqi people was that they allow us to kick in their doors in the middle of the night, ransack their homes and indiscriminately take their husbands, fathers, sons, nephews and cousins.

Now it's true, some of the Iraqis are ungrateful for all we've done to them. After four years, they're complaining about not having electricity, about the lack of drinking water, about the long lines for gasoline (isn't Iraq where oil comes from?), about having to pay bribes to the Iraqi Police who run the permanent checkpoints, about gunmen forcing people out of their homes, about the police driving through the towns blaring obscenities at them, about the police stealing from them, about the police shooting indiscriminately into their homes, about the police using torture to coerce confessions out of their prisoners, about not knowing what to do if a female family member goes into labor at night after curfew, about being walled in by their liberators, about not being able to retrieve the bodies of their loved ones who died for being the wrong religion, about their Mosques being raided, about the lack of security... I mean what the fuck? Don't they know Americans are dying?

To be fair, Iraqis are dying too but that's different. The average Iraqi doesn't speak english, they have flies on their food, they don't use toilets, the men wear dresses and hold hands (and they kiss each other), they don't brush their teeth, they stink, most of them drive old cars, they don't have camera phones (but that's just because being caught with a camera phone is enough to get killed). I guess what I'm trying to say is that they are not people like we are. Their blood isn't good enough for their freedom, only American blood will do.

Now, the pro-Iraq war crowd will tell you that we're building schools and hospitals and cleaning up trash and things like that, and that's true, and boy does that look swell to the pro-Iraq War politicians, but they don't realize that we're giving the Iraqis what Americans think the Iraqis should have, and not what they want or need. What good is a school or a hospital without drinking water or electricity?

Instead, they want to sum up the war's progress by circulating pictures of soldiers petting animals or giving candy to children. They are touching photos and give credence to the moral character of the common servicemember (something to be proud of), but they're poor indicators of judging the progress of a war. Those pictures only make sense to anybody who believes that petting an animal or some candy makes up for the death of a family member. Perhaps some cookies will satisfy the pro-Iraq war crowd? Or those still seeking revenge for 9/11?

In the lack of any military objective, the pro-war side has had to settle for ANY justification. We're killing Islamofascists, we're installing democracy, we're getting revenge for 9/11. Wanting revenge for the death of a family member isn't Islamofascism. Can you imagine America if EVERYONE lost a family member in 9/11 like every Iraqi family has in the occupation? Or even half? We'd be in the streets with rifles and homemade bombs too! Democracy? Sixty percent of polled Iraqis CONDONE the killing of their liberators. That doesn't include the ones who want us to leave but DON'T condone killing. The Iraqi-elected government, the Iraqi people, they all want us out. THAT'S democracy! And 9/11? Were there any Iraqis on those planes? Suddenly every Iraqi is a card-carrying member of Al-Qaeda? (Well, NOW they are.) Was every Iraqi in on the plot and we just didn't know?

Even better is that the pro-Iraq War crowd has spun the idea of giving Iraq back to the Iraqis as... surrender? So Operation Iraqi FREEDOM was supposed to liberate the Iraqis and install democracy BUT giving Iraq back to the Iraqis is failure? Huh? Can they even hear themselves?

The lack of military objective is even harder on the servicemembers! We've had to do the same thing to justify our presence in Iraq! "Better to fight them over there than over here!" (is that unemployed man wearing a dress and sandals really planning on attacking America?) "I'll fight them so my son doesn't have to!" (didn't we declare war on terrorism and not Iraq? It's been four years, when will terrorism surrender?)

The anti-Iraq War people think that driving around waiting to get blown up is a death unbecoming ANY American servicemember.

The pro-Iraq War people say "Nobody held a gun to your head."

The pro-Iraq War people say that enlistments and retention are meeting quota.

The anti-Iraq War people say get rid of the Stop-Loss Policy.

But the anti-Iraq War and pro-Iraq War sides both agree on one thing and that is that if we were to withdraw, Iraqis would die. Well, one, they already are and two, show me a country going through a revolution that DIDN'T involve spilled blood. The difference is in the question "How much more American blood will be spilled in an attempt to stall the inevitable?" The anti-Iraq War crowd wants none.

The pro-Iraq War crowd wants as much as necessary.