However I would never suggest someone risk their life for something they don’t believe in. Half-hearted committment makes one a danger to himself and others around him. This is not meant as a criticism, but perhaps something to ponder.

I’m not saying that everything is great in Washington or even that I am a Bush fan. But should we be in Iraq? I believe that absolutely. Have you ever considered why certain people are fighting so desperately to keep the Iraqi people from being free to think for themselves? Isn’t that one of the freedoms you praised? Exactly how do you use dipolmacy on obsession or mania? I’m not going to get into a long drawn out argument here, but I hope you either find that certainty or are able to go home.

I agree with the first part of this statement. I am, if nothing else, a firm believer in the ideals set down in our Constitution: The Four Freedoms, Rule of Law, Equal Protection under the Law, Separation of Church and State, as well as the other many basic rights enumerated in the Constitution and Bill of Rights. I believe that we came to our once-legendary standing in the world based on these principles; an ethos, if you will, that symbolized a moral high ground within the global arena.

THIS, all that I mentioned above, is MY America. THIS is the country that I love. THIS is the country that I signed on to defend (and, perhaps, restore).

But I have to admit, while I am proud to be a soldier, I am not proud of the many sins that, since 9/11, have been perpetrated in my name.

Domestic surveillance.

Unilateralism.

Torture.

Pre-emptive war.

The abandonment of diplomacy.

I signed up to fight this war, however grudgingly, and the dangers I face are mine to endure. I recognize that, yes, there are people who want Americans dead. But as Socrates put it “It is better to suffer an injustice than to inflict one.” We murder civilians, we rape a SOVEREIGN nations’ culture and economy, we talk openly of first-strike nuclear attacks against other nations. All this, AND a shifting diorama of threadbare justifications for our current plight. WHAT, I ask, WHAT is noble in continuing this way? Is this American? Sending my brothers and I to our deaths for (now admitted) material gain–Is that American?

I’m all for fighting terrorism. I really am. Send me to Afghanistan. Send me to Darfur. Send me to Somalia. But as far as I can see, fighting terrorism is not what I’m doing here. What I am doing, however, is contributing to an agenda which sullies American freedoms in my name, and which makes me ashamed of my beloved Army.

Are these American ideals? I don’t think they are. My country is better than this. But if they are, then wouldn’t it perhaps be better to slough loose such corrupted values? Wouldn’t that be American: to strive to regain the Moral High Ground?

What am I fighting for? WHO am I fighting for?

Because I’m clearly not fighting for MY America.

The American ideals as set forth by our forfathers have been the rock that has seen us through many a dark hour. The difficulty Americans preceive isn’t a shakiness of our ideals, but a changing of our popularity (or preceived popularity) in the world. They only question is, will Americans abandon the rock that has seen us through so much for the quick sand of “popularity”. I’ve found that doing what’s right often makes one unpopular. But being unpopular won’t kill you…doing what’s wrong just to be popular will.