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I appreciate you responding to me in this forum. Thank you also for the eloquent way you brought to light my misuse of the word hypocrite. The casual observer would say you are against Operation Iraqi Freedom as part of the greater Global War on Terror. You say that this military action is making us less safe. I must in turn ask you when the last terrorist action on U.S. soil was after 9/11? I must also ask if you have personally seen the lives of Iraqis being bettered through U.S. construction, engineering, medical care, fiscal policy, and private donations? Have you personally heard dozens of Iraqi citizens tell you that they thank Allah for the United States and what we are doing for them? Have you even heard stories of such happenings from friends/the drive by media? Winning the hearts and minds indeed. My guess would be no; but perhaps you have such occurences listed elsewhere in your blog. Anywho, it is my firm belief through PERSONAL observation that we are making the world a safer place by liberating Iraq and bettering the lives of each person in the aforementioned ways. After all, when plumbing comes to an area and people don't defecate in the street and wipe their rear with their left hand and continue on in conversations as if the pile of human feces weren't there in their midst, is not the world safer? When power lines no longer criss cross dangerously and hang low in the streets, is the world not safer? When women can choose to dress as they wish, go where they wish, not be forced to carry ALL private possessions on her head and walk 5 ft. behind her husband who carries nothing, is the world not safer? When women are not beaten or sold simply because a male in their family wishes to, is the world not safer? When people have work, and money, and food, no longer fear for their lives and can reach their fullest potential for growth, is the world not safer? True, there is sectarian violence in Iraq; but I believe that to be the natural "hiccups" so to say, of an oppressed people born in a culture of violence and reprisals that is thousands of years old, coming of age in a brave new world of Democracy. True, Muslim terrorist groups are attacking elsewhere in the world; but evidence suggests that these attacks are a last futile attempt of a global terrorist organzation whose infrastructure is in its death throes. Do not lose sight, my young Padawan, of the true two-fold goal of OIF, it is: to make Iraq stable in all things a nation should be, and to hand over that new hope to the Iraqis to independently and FREELY govern themselves however they see fit. Of course "Hadji Girl" is a bigoted song. That's why it's funny. Remember, we are American citizens too and have the same freedoms as you. So good for you if you don't believe servicemembers (only the Army is known as Soldiers. It is disrespectful to call a Sailor, Airman, or Marine anything but what they are) should be bigots. In an ideal world no one would be. You ask how can we hope to help the country we're in if we don't understand their culture. Well, the answer is we can't. The government pays people with shiny stuff on their collars to be the ones who understand, and deal with the populace on a regular basis. They're the ones who do the problem solving. We enlisted are the trigger pullers, the wrench turners, the cooks, etc. My job wasn't to hand out soccer balls and build schools, it was to destroy the enemies of our country and our allies with cold, ruthless efficiency. On that note, this war is not "going so badly" as you put it. We are killing terrorsits on unprecedented levels, we are blowing up their IED's before they get them out of their workshops, we are killing their top leaders left and right, we are winning the hearts and minds of the Iraqi populace. Again, I have seen this with my own two eyes. Have you? Or have you just rehashed and spewed out what the drive by media and others have stated before, this time claiming it as your own? But like I said before, feel free to do whatever you want, and think however you want because we've got your back and will die for your right to be free.