Iraq

In my more-or-less regular submissions to this online journal I have tried hard to refrain from commenting on the Iraq war.  I had supported the invasion, had thought that Saddam posed a great danger to the region and the world, had believed that he was capable, as he had shown in the past, of using chemical and biological weapons without compunction, whether on his own people or on his neighbors, and that he was for years sidestepping the many U.N. sanctions imposed on his murderous regime.

But now the more than two thousand American lives lost, not to mention the score of thousands more wounded or disfigured, some very terribly, has made me question the terrible cost of the war.  Yesterday ten young Marines died in one of the worst single roadside bombing tragedies in months.  Young men with families whose grief I cannot bear to imagine.

Is our President right in maintaining his unshakable position on staying the course?  Are our military brass sharing with him the true sentiments of the kids on the front line, if they know? Are the opinion polls reliable?  Is the so-called mainstream media politically skewed leftward as some pundits claim?  Who are the pundits anyhow, and how did they come to acquire this 'exalted' status?  Do they have sons and daughters in harm's way? What is their agenda, or that of those on the other side of the debate?

I have many questions, as I know many other Americans do.  And there are such deep divisions in the country, political, social, and ideological, that we can only keep wondering, and hoping.