Fallen soldiers deserve our respect and our attention

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Lots going through my mind this morning. First, our laws are important. Thank those Congressmen and Senators that originally voted to approve the Freedom of Information Act or we wouldn't be allowed to see the flag draped coffins of our fallen soldiers from the hostilities in Afghanistan and especially Iraq.

It's important who we appoint as a Supreme Court Judge who will eventually rule on cases that have to do with things like our right to know, our individual freedoms of expression and other profound values encapsulated in written law. In 2000, the court decided who was going to be our President. Let's not forget what freedom is because this is what these brave men and women believed they gave their ultimate sacrifice for. I feel saddened by the fact we don't often publicize their return, because this Administration fears the images will affect us and they obviously want to minimize that. How dare this Administration hide this from us for so long. These images should affect us and they have!

What has been creeping into my awareness from the events of the past week, where we have lost about 30 brave soldiers in Iraq, is that, for the first time since we started this war in Iraq, we aren't expecting to win this war. I felt this way during the Vietnam war and now this has crept back into my awareness. We aren't doing right in Iraq even though many Generals state we need more troops there to help "secure the peace". If you give this some thought I believe you will come to the same conclusion. We don't have a plan to win this thing. We are trying to hold on until the Iraqi's have sufficient forces trained to start to leave. What a mess and disservice to all that are there and those that have fallen and the Iraqi's too, as they are paying a bigger price than we are. They have lost thousands of sons, daughters, brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers. Can you really now believe we are the strongest military in the world. Take away our Nuclear Bomb deterrent and we, as Americans, are like any other nation, just trying to live our lives. It's the Chicken hawks that started this war, with the trumped up intelligence reports, that should be over there fighting if they believe so strongly in what they proclaimed. Instead, their leader is on a 5-week vacation in Crawford, TX.

Here's some information on the Freedom of Information Act obtained from www.answers.com/:

Freedom of Information Act (enacted in 1966), law requiring that U.S. government agencies release their records to the public on request, unless the information sought falls into a category specifically exempted, such as national security, an individual's right to privacy, or internal agency management. The act provides for court review of agency refusals to furnish identifiable records. The states also have similar laws. The federal government and some states have also adopted so-called sunshine laws that require governmental bodies, as a matter of general policy, to hold open meetings, announced in advance. Presidential papers remained under the control of individual American presidents until 1981, when the Presidential Records Act—enacted by Congress in 1978—took effect. Under it, presidential papers were to be released to the public 12 years after an administration ended. In 2001, however, President George W. Bush signed an executive order that gave a former president or a sitting president the right to prevent the release of a former president's papers to the public. The G. W. Bush administration has also has generally been more reluctant to release documents under the Freedom of Information Act.