We lost in Vietnam. We didn't lose in Iraq. Saddam is out of power for good. The casualty count is nowhere near Vietnam.

The President called no draft. No young folks were forced to go over and fight in Iraq. The military forces fighting in Iraq volunteered.

I suspect Sheehan's obsessive/grating nature drove her child in to the relatively milder demands of boot camp and army life.

Vietnam was not a complete loss either. It slowed the spread of communism throughout the world and depleted Russian efforts elsewhere (notably South America)

We fought Nazis, communists, Saddam and now find ourselves fighting a guerrila war in the against islamofascists.

No soldier's efforts are ever in vain. No soldier fights and dies without having contributed to the security and power of the United States.

There are no unimportant deaths. There are no "wasted efforts".

All one needs is the ability to be able to see all these events and conflicts in perspective.

Sheehan doesn't have that perspective and instead of emphasizing the achievements of our military has merely sought to diminish her son's death in some sad political exploitation.

That she has harmed her mother by doing this, no one can doubt. She is self-absorbed and surrounded by the self-absorbed.