Prying loose the myth that what we are seeing in Iraq is some misguided patriotism is difficult around here.

First of all, a large number of suicide bombers are not Iraqis. Neither are a lot of insurgents and terrorists.

Second, if the insurgency is mostly Iraqis upset with America being there, they seem to be blowing up an awful lot of Iraqis.

We are fighting a Baathist movement firmly based in Syria, and an al Qaeda offshoot. Not the "Iraqi people." I thought we'd gotten past that a long time ago.

Go ahead and blame the war for our financial problems. I've heard it before. The issues you discuss would still be there, war or no war. $300 billion would pay for Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid for a little over three months. Then what?