Hornet's nest
I won't re-hash all the crap about why we went to war with Iraq. And you can say we're not there to war with the people of Iraq, but it is the people of Iraq and their land that is being demolished. No matter what we as individuals might say in public, we all know that the only wmd's that would frighten us enough to push us to war would've been nuclear weapons. And we all know that there were none.
All we can do now is bow our feeble heads, wish we could turn back the clock, and regretfully admit we're there now and we have to make the best of it. That's sad in itself.

Years ago I lived in Florida. I stayed in a house on a huge lot of land. At the very back of the property there was a big oak tree with a large hornet's nest in it. One day I thought it was time to rid the neighborhood of this irritating menace and tried to knock it loose from the high branches it was built on. This did not go very well at all. I was stung more than twenty times before I could run screaming back to the shelter of the house.
To this day, as far as I know, that hornets nest is still there and doing quite well.
No I'm not really stupid enough to try to equate my little story with the situation in Iraq, but then again, the principle is the same.
Although I had obviously stirred up the hornets to a frenzy, making it even more dangerous for anyone else to go near that part of the yard, I was unable to do what I'd set out to do. However, I personally was able to go back to my cozy house and forget about it. My surrounding neighbors were left to deal with it.
G.W. and his dad will someday sit on the cozy back terrace of one of their estates, sipping cocktails and laughing at 'that little fiasco' they stirred up back in Iraq.

I don't claim to be smart, but I will pour piss out of a boot. We can't just kill everyone who doesn't agree with us. (Wait- isn't that what terrorists do?)
Although there is a good percentage of the Iraqi populace (we're told) that say they are glad we're there and they agree with our ideologies, what of the apparent ever-increasing percentage of those that don't.
Some rather ugly and murderous acts have been committed in the name of America that could certainly be considered of a terrorist nature. What gives us the 'high-ground'? Why makes us the authority on right and wrong?
What if another country decided we weren't living our lives the way they felt we should? What if they successfully invaded our country, ousted our government, and 'laid down the law'?
Americans aren't, from what I've seen, that much smarter than the rest of the world. If what has happened to Iraq, happened to us, there might be a large portion of the people who'd agree there was a need for a change, and supported the invasion- if for no other reason than just to stay alive. Consider those of us who would surely feel we should be allowed to live the way we had existed for generations. What if you didn't agree? Would you take up arms against the invaders?
The American democracy is an infant compared to the centuries old cultures that we have decided we should 'fix'.
I value greatly, the American lives that have been lost in this 'police-action', but I don't think just being stubborn, and throwing more money and more innocent lives at the problem ('staying the course') is a sensible thing to do. I say we should grit our teeth, put our pride in our back pockets, leave the nest alone and bring everyone back home. We have more than enough things we could be doing right here to make ourselves and our democracy stronger and safer.

-Rick Yost, June 29, 2005