"You cling to the negative like lint to a belly button."

While you discard evidence and ignore fact like a true believer. Even after being stung and stung again.

A large number of 'you' were once drawn in by the notion that this was a vital act of self defense.

A small minority feel some small sense of chagrin about that, while most of you have dutifully gone on to revise downward what self defense meant or deny that the war was ever about that.

And some cling to this notion that 'oh, mistakes are made, nobody is to blame, really'.

Okay, so whatever. You know what I think about all of those responses to this situation.

But, regardless...

What makes you believe now, that this is any different? Why do you dismiss this? Why do you explain this away? Why do you execute the same blindness and the same unwillingness to ponder that you executed before the war?

Do you think this is any different?

Now that we are calling 54 year old ladies back into duty in Iraq, don't you think some critical thinking might be called for? After so many 'naked abused Iraqi' pictures, in so many unrelated contexts, don't you think there might be some deeper systemic problem??

Or was this self defense, like shooting an unconscious wounded Iraqi in the head at point-blank range in a mosque and then laughing about it.

(Funny what happens after you define down self-defense into a speed bump. It starts sounding comparable to the invocation of leibensraum: A trite excuse for needless slaughter and suffering.)

Or is this just another thing to be explained away? Just another semi-real event happening on TV to someone of a different color, class and creed. Someone who looks like our enemy, but may have nothing to do with the real enemy. Not to be confused with the Daily Story coming out of the Pentagon, even when that Daily Story is derided by many who are there as absurd and laughable.

One shouldn't let reality intrude on what is described nascently as patriotism and supporting our troops- which seems to be defined as unquestioning belief in what the powers that be tell you. Right?

A sucker may be born every minute, but you don't have to remain a sucker for every minute of your life. Why do you, an obviously aware and intelligent person, work so hard at being a sucker? Is it easier to be a sucker than it is to admit you landed on the wrong side of something, and start pushing in the right direction?

Davin L.