Iraq: Yet another son dies in vain.

Before you finish reading my blog today, there is a definite possibility that yet another US soldier may have died in Iraq. With due respect to that brave soldier and with sympathies to his bereaved family, one can easily say that his death is a waste. As I was reading a couple of news stories about a mother keeping vigil outside President Bush's ranch in Texas and about another mother in Virginia who lost his son recently, I was wondering how these mothers are coping with such loses. Indeed they would be proud that their son/daughter has died in service of the nation. But for me it seems such a terrible waste. Certainly these young soldiers are not pledging their lives in defense of their country. Worse, they are dying while committing atrocities on a nation which had every right to its sovernity. These soldiers are dying on the whims and fancies of their political leaders. However my heart goes out to the mothers of all those genuine Iraqis (I believe they far outnumber the foreign Jihadis) who have lost their lives defending their motherland. Surely they can be proud. Alas how gullible the American people are. This is not the first time US politicians have hoodwinked their people in search of those non-existent WMDs or whatever. Remember the "Gulf of Tonkin" resolution and that attack on USS Maddox, which never happened? President Johnson used that story to get more troops into Vietnam barely months after his predecessor Kennedy had started pulling troops out of Vietnam. How many soldiers did US loose after that? Such deceit in the face of a mother's sacrifice of her son seems unbelievable to me. I can't explain this to a mother who has lost her son/daughter. If you happen to be one such mother, I'm very sorry!