I personally have a bottle of Maalox in a drawer right next to this machine. Believe me, this board is not the only reason I need it, but it's been a big chunk of it lately.

I think I know what has gotten me more reactive and defensive on these subjects than is probably called for.

You are perfectly correct that Iraq's atrocities do not lessen the impact of what we do. And yes, the soldiers were sick about it. I read it. I also saw a bit on TV showing American medics trying to save injured Iraqi kids and adults. The death of a three year old girl devastated them. That's the difference between us and them. They machine gun kids. Does this mean nothing? Do we have no moral edge at all in this war?

Why am I so pissed off about the reaction this van incident has gotten?

What burns holes in my guts is that all over the world WE ARE BEING CALLED THE GODDAM BAD GUYS. Millions of protestors carrying signs calling Bush the worst kind of murderer. Not ONE sign calling on Saddam to change his behavior in any way.

The American Left, which INVENTED the term "War of Liberation," howling about how we should leave the oppressers alone.

Arabs filling the streets decrying the few dozens of civilian deaths we cause in Iraq. Where the hell were they when Saddam killed over a million Muslims? A quarter of them in cold blood? Where is the coalition of Arab nations Lindy talks about?

I see pictures of injured and weeping Iraqis covering my newspaper. I cannot remember the last photo I saw of an injured American soldier.

And now, everyone is furious over what we did to that van, and not one person cares that it was set up as surely as if Saddam had shoved that van into that checkpoint personally.

We could have erased that nation from the face of the Earth with the press of a button. Cost: about ten million dollars. No loss of American lives at all. All the soldiers staying home with their families.

We could have wiped Baghdad and the surrounding armies into burning rubble with conventional weapons, from miles in the air. Our soldiers could have sauntered into the charnel house, stuck the flag in the center of what used to be Baghdad, and gone home.

But no. We spend billions of dollars and maybe hundreds of American lives trying to get the job done without hurting the Iraqi people. Without hurting the Iraqi SOLDIERS. And all America gets is shit for it, here on this board, and across the planet.

It's the news media, the pundits, the Hollywood crew, and dozens of nations, including those who are oppressing their OWN people, all telling us how rotten we are and all the time ignoring the enemy we're fighting.*

And Iraq exploits this to the fullest, by forcing us to kill kids or die ourselves.

And that's what's giving me indigestion, and maybe makes me a little more hardassed about some of this stuff than I should be. Sorry.

*Maybe they will go so far as to say "Well, yes Saddam is bad, but..." and continue with the endless litany of American crimes. Your post here is a refreshing breath of fresh air.