sorry, i got off on a tangent in my other post.  i know we are focusing on american lives lost.  my cousin has done 2 tours in iraq, and is definitely somewhat traumatized by it.  he can't be around very many children at once now, he gets very anxious.  apparently, the children in iraq would always surround them and put their hands up and he became very anxious during those times, being armed and all.  

dick cheney is not the only person in the world who has made a decision that benefited him financially over someone else, even if it meant someone else lost their lives.  dick cheney is not the only person in the world who hunts.  dick cheney is not the only person in the world who has worked for companies that are harmful to the environment or people's health.  dick cheney is entitled to his personal beliefs on gay marriage, despite his daughter being gay.  i love my children more than i can explain, but if they do something that i view as being "wrong", that will not change my belief.  i still believe it is wrong to lie, cheat, steal, kill, etc...even if my children do it.  i think he is an easy target for us to focus our anger at.  anger that we have for so many things, and to get real, so many (other) people!  maybe someone close to us and that makes the hate personal.  

but i do have to say that other countries who talk trash about america going into iraq are somewhat hypocritical.  what do you think would happen if their country was faced with the same situation that faced iraq?  you bet your ass they're hitting speed dial to bush and cheney to send in our troops.  we know it and they know it.  it is not wrong for the US to ask for something in return in that case.  i think if you look deep enough, there is something there to be proud of.  being the "go-to guy".  that being said, the loss of lives is always unfortunate and i am saddened by that.  

fiona

Well, Let me ask you this....If we never "invaded" Iraq...would those kids be in Sweden? Why are they there? How may of their Mothers, Fathers, Brothers, Sisters, Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, Friends, Etc...have been killed or wounded? For What reason? The war on TERROR? Who started the war on terror? It was not Iraq...they never posed a threat to anyone! All I have to say is that if Saddam was still alive (and no...he was not a good man...but then again are Bush or Cheney)?..those kids would be going to school in Iraq. Too bad so many read into the bullsh*t...thinking that invading Iraq had even1 single good cause. Iraq would have been better with Saddam in place....so glad we killed him...after all...ALL life is SACRED....ALL life....even his! Who caused more death, Saddam or Cheney/Bush?......go look it up.....
How many millions have left their homeland and leave everyday...worse...how many died today?

my neighbor and the parents at school have all been here over 10 years, so they sought asylum from saddam hussein, not the war.  and yes, the others who have come in the last several years are here due to the war, definitely.  i am not complaining about them going to school here, just stating a fact.  some of the children would be WORKING if they were in iraq, and not going to school.  but think about it.  if something terrible were going on in the US and our troops, or even troops from other countries were fighting on our own ground, would you leave?  whether the war was opposing something you thought of as good or evil, you still wouldn't want to be here.  

i think it is hard to stand by the statement that iraq never posed a threat to "anyone".   saying that iraq would have been better with saddam in place is naive to say for someone who has never been there and has lived in a free country all of his life.  i don't believe that bush and cheney went into office with the intention to have a war.  they were presented with a series of events and reacted.  the plan went to sh*t.  so, now what?  we have to forget the anger from the past and focus on the now.  where do we go from here?  

i realize my views are drastically different from probably all of you.  i am the first to admit that i do not know everything about this war and its causes.  maybe some of you do know all of it.  but i have daily contact with iraqi people who lived there under saddam hussein's rule, and afterwards during the war and that is the perspective i am coming from. 

since i can see that many of you are passionate on this subject, and i am not, i will bow out of this thread as of now.  i am not the least bit upset by anyone's responses, we just look at things differently.

fiona