Opinion:

I know that many won't agree with me...

...but,

I am inherently suspicious of government, no matter who is in power at the moment, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, or whoever...

I do not believe everything in the news...

I do not believe everything I read in blogworld (to use Key's word)...

I believe very little...

Were we right to invade Iraq when we did and how we did? I'm not sure that's the correct question. In my opinion, the correct question is "Was it in the best interests of our nation to invade Iraq when and how we did?" which is NOT the same question and does NOT have the same answer. "Right" and "best interests" are not always aligned.

Is the path we have taken since the declared end of "major combat operations" the correct one? I can answer that question unequivocally. The lack of planning has been on the verge of criminal. While I do not believe Donald Rumsfeld should resign over the prisoner abuse scandal, although he was key in creating the environment where troops would feel that "anything goes" on prisoners that had been declared as not being covered by the Geneva Conventions, he SHOULD resign over the stupidly optimistic visions of "everything will be OK once we win in Iraq" that seems to have governed the lack of planning since the Iraqi Army dissolved.

What do I believe?

I believe in the "checks and balances system" that was put in place by the authors of the US Constitution.

I believe that most people participating in national government (including politicians, believe it or not) believe in what they say, and they do have the best interests of the nation at heart, and that there can be and are honest disagreements between people on the best path to choose for our nation to take.

And despite all that has happened in my life and what I have seen in the lives of others, I believe in love. But... I also believe love is not what most think it is; real love arrives disguised, and what most people call "love" does not mean what they think it means...