"Failure is not an option"

This was said by the Bush administration about our policy in Iraq. My feelings are mirrored by an editorial I heard on WNYC: "The war in Iraq is already lost." (I'll have to branch out from quoting WNYC, lest I become repetitive.) The day we went in there with no real purpose stated is the day failure showed its face. It makes me sad and it disgusts me.

I mostly feel this way, I suppose, because my uncle fought in Vietnam, and the government does next to nothing for those who are killed or tortured for it and its idea of "freedom" or "democracy" or "terrorism" or "weapons of mass destruction" or whatever convenient fable is on hand—based upon my uncle's experience, anyway. He was a grunt, was a victim of Agent Orange, told me that his platoon would receive government-issue packs of marijuana cigarettes, since they all knew how bad it was and there was nothing they could do about it. Anyway, I just pray for a swift end to this horror.

By the way, has any more been discovered about Nicholas Berg and the details leading to his death? That is one of the most horrific stories I've ever heard, but I feel like it needs to be talked about as much as possible to remind people of what an inhumane and truly evil thing war is. (Reminder about who Nick Berg is for those who are bad with names: He's the man who was decapitated in the al Qaeda/Iraqi video. His head was sawed off as he begged for mercy. That's barbarism. That's what happens in war. It turns people into deranged beasts.)

I apologize for the gloom, but that's where my head's at when I hear the news. I'll post something nice sometime—really, I will.