By playing the blame game, we are playing into the hands of the PTB (Powers That Be). You know as well as I that the average American and the average U.S. soldier has nothing to gain by the destruction of Iraq, just as the average Iraqi has nothing to gain. The same people who want to oppress you want to oppress us as well as you. They want to take away our liberties and opportunities as much as they want to take away yours.

While the reasons for starting this war by the PTB were not honorable, U.S. soldiers in Iraq want to succeed in building a true democratic government in Iraq, irregardless of what the PTB want in Iraq. Succeeding at accomplishing this means recognizing that there are people on both sides working to prevent this from happening. We need to stop fighting each other, and start working together to stop the PTB from continuing to deprive us all of what we deserve, which is liberty and opportunity. This is not an easy thing to do, but if we all work together, we can succeed.

Isn't this why we come here on this website to accomplish?

The prisons in Iraq were and are insurgent factorys.

If a person has been falsely accused, held without recourse in law, and tortured at the same time, they will seek revenge - that's just human nature.

As for the oil embargo, all that did was punish Iraqi citizens, it affected saddam not one whit.

The embargo was to stop them buying arms?
Why didn't the US government just stop supplying them?
That's where the vast majority of Iraqi arms came from - the embargo just left the door open for Russia to put Iraq into debt to them.

If a person sells another person an illegal gun, and then that gun is used in the commission of a crime, the seller is as guilty as the perpetrator - with that in mind, why aren't the people who sold the gas to Saddam in prison?

Millions of US citizens say prohibition does not work - except for international prohibitions...
Double standards.

The use of DU and WP against civilians and in civilian area's.

The tragedy that was fallujah - look at birth defects caused by the use of DU.

Before the invasion of Europe in WW2 planners spent 2 years drawing up plans for reconstruction.

Before the invasion of Iraq, they spent zero time planning for reconstruction, with not even a military police presence to stop criminal elements from having a free for all - the result? CHAOS and the breakdown of infrastructure.
Soldiers sat on street corners picking their noses while a whole country was ransacked - not entirely their fault, as they had no orders to interfere, but definitely the fault of the war planners.

Kurdish oil exploration and exploitation rights given to friends of the Bush family.

No bid contracts given to a company the VP had a major interest in.

Mercenarys acting as lawless thugs.

Lies, lies and more lies from Bush & co - all to justify something which was pretty much illegal.

And people wonder why Iraqi's and others are angry about this?

Give me a break.

Originally posted by Mosul
don't forget Abu Garib jail , Black Water scandals all of these reflect the democracy granted by the US forces

Yes, we are ashamed and embarrassed at some of the things our American soldiers have done in Iraq, but you cannot profile all Americans on the actions of a few. Just as I won't profile people from the middle east from the actions of a few.

My American SON is serving in Mosul and he has been to your schools to provide Iraq children with pencils, paper, crayons, and books. He has been saddened to see entire families sleeping outside at night on a set of bedsprings with no mattress in the middle of a war zone. He sincerely empathizes with the Iraqi people and wishes only the best for them.

Yes, the American people were duped by our Government to believe that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction. However, the man was a maniac who oppressed, murdered and stole from his own people. He was a threat to his neighbors and the world. That being said, he had to be taken out.

We would have left your country shortly after the demise of Saddam and the rebuilding of your country (on our dime), had not all the religious extremist, foreign fighters, and Al-Quaeda got involved. It is this group who threatens your democracy.

It is my heartfelt belief that anyone who kills themselves and takes innocent victims with them in the belief that God is going to reward them is sadly mistaken. I believe we were all created equal in the eyes of God regardless of religion, race, nationality or place or birth.

My son saw these extremist murder and eraticate Christians from the city of Mosul. They can not respect and honor people of different faiths, even though they all worship God.

I have to ask you if you think your country will fare well after the Americans leave without some sort of radical change in your beliefs and governing bodies? While I hasten to push my beliefs on others, I care about you and your future. At the end of the day, the Iraqi's need to decide what kind of live they want for themselves and their children.

Iraq should be the most properous and technologically advanced civilization on earth right now. Iraq is the cradle of civilazation and it sits on a vast amount of oil. However, decades of war, religious and secterian procecution has robbed you of your futures.

I beg of you to wake up and take your blinders off. Your country has been in shambles for eons - even before the Americans came. We have made mistakes in this war and we have to take full responsibility for the actions of Blackwater and our troops at Abu-Graib, but at the end of the day, their are a lot of Americans putting their lifes and pocketbooks on the line for the good of the Iraqi people.