?1,293 American soldiers have died in Iraq.

I wonder if anyone here at Habitable Zone knew any of these people or any of the other casualties of the war?
I also wonder what these people could or would have accomplished during their life had they lived their normal lifetimes.

Many years ago I heard someone say that in the future the United States would not be the "word leader" that it was at the time.
I could not believe such predictions, after all, the high ideals of "life, liberty, and freedom" seemed to be on the minds of US citizens. Now I'm getting the impression from the news media that "life, liberty, and freedom" is reserved only for US citizens and all others should forfeit their "life, liberty, and freedom" to the whims of the US government.

I agree that terrorism "and all criminal activity" should be eliminated from the face of the Earth, but I do not believe that it can be done by waging wars (verbal or otherwise) against other countries.

There seems to be a sort of a "action/reaction" principle involved with human behavior. If I hit someone, most likely they will hit me back, if someone hits me, then most likely I will hit them, if I am weaker and can not hit them, then my family members will do it for me. Naturally, if my family members hit someone that has hit me then that persons family members will hit my family members, and the fight escalates. The same happens weather one uses words, fists or weapons.

The question is how to control such behavior.
I do not know.
Perhaps religion was supposed to teach people to control their behavior and respect human life.

Enjoy a happy holiday season WITH your loved ones.

Johannes