I'm sure this has been posted before, but in my daily rush and all of the threads that pass through here, I must have overlooked it. A friend of mine sent it to me this morning and I was blown away. Of course, I don't expect any of our right-wing counterparts to feel anything after watching it but I fail to see how anyone with a conscience - right or left - wouldn't be tremendously impacted by the video. The faces of our soldiers, strained under stress but doing their jobs the best that they can do. Their words, tempered because they know they are on video but their frustration and the feeling of futility painfully evident.

But the most striking and profound to me is the Iraqi's. These people, trying to live their lives in the hell that we have brought upon them, are being subjected to a fate worse than many of us can imagine. The children whose lives are being ripped apart by the turmoil and the injuries, when they should be playing soccer or doing the things that young children do when they are young. Their whole worlds are being destroyed, their very way of life is changing for the worse. I can only imagine what they think when they imagine what a young child would be doing a world away in the USA and compare it to what they are experiencing. One thing is for certain, we handed Al Quiada a giant present with a red bow wrapped around it - a fertile land for recruits. A veritable revolving door that will never, ever see an end until we leave these people to figure out how to pick up the pieces. They never should have had to deal with this and we will suffer the consequences for generations to come, but our continued presence only feeds the monster.

Sometimes I feel disheartened at our lack of progress. I get frustrated with our elected Democrats and their lack of a backbone. I ask myself why am I still fighting so hard despite our inherent weakness to accomplish anything regarding this war? This video couldn't have come at a better time for me. It makes more disheartened at our progress and more frustrated at our Dems, but it gives me a face and puts me in the middle of the conflict - if only in my imagination. I'll continue to press on and fight this war and this administration, not just for myself and my family, but for those Iraqi's who deserve better. Will you?

Here's the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGp1zi7-4bI