Its all in perception. Some forces are occupation forces, others are active combat units. The majority of operation in Iraq atm are active combat units. Military intelligence (oxymoron noted) gives out missions depending on the type. Some may be a large force engaging insurgents house to house. Some may be surgical strikes where 2 to 4 operators move to cause chaos and terror between the warring factions.

One thing alot of people don't realize is it's not the US/UN -vs- Al-Qaeda/insurgents. These people have been at war with each other forever. Sometimes we, as soldiers, create "terror" between these factions. The outcome of this is they war against each other, wipe out people who would or may have eventually attacked and killed American service men and woman.

Should we have got involved in this? That is each persons own opinion. Suddam was an evil man, I would have loved to have been the one to unearth him in the spiderhole. Remember, the majority of the Iraqi people are good people.

I know that the majority of the Iraqi people are good people...I also know that they tend to make up a disproprtionate number of "collateral damage." Yes, Saddam Hussein was a very bad guy...And yet the sanctions didn't hurt him, they hurt the good Iraqi people...Besides, the fact that he was bad didn't seem to bother the US before when they did business with him...

The war is illegal, just like every one of our wars since korea.. 'nuff said.

good morning everyone. for starters, i just want to say that war, in itself is not fair or necessarily correct IMO. unfortunately, we have certain people in the world that would deem it necessary to extinguish innocent lives, so we must act on that for the greater good of society and stop these murderous people. however, i do believe that america's politicians are very arrogant in their thinking. america has many problems of their own, that we could be dealing with rather than trying to play superman everytime something in the world happens. for whatever reason, we seem to turn our heads away from the things that are right in front of us. i don't know why it is this way, but it is. as far as talk goes, i have a tendency to look at america's past. we have tried to help as many people as we could in different situations. i would think that because of this help that america would develop friendships with other countries. instead, certain countries seem to have taken advantage of that friendship. where is america's friends when we need help? and i'm not necessarily talking about this war when i ask that question either. respectfully, SM

SM,

All I can say is AMEN!! I just don't understand all the loss of innocent life; both American and Iraqi. My brother is scheduled for his second tour in Iraq and he has many issues with this war.

There are so many issues in America. At Easter Mass there was a homeless man seated in front of me. I could not help but feel bad for him. Most likely he has lived a turmoiled life and suffers from mental illness. He was so exhausted that he slept through the entire service; it was as though he was searching for a safe place to rest. He is one of those invisible Americans that nobody wants to acknowledge. Very sad!