Im back from my vacation pic link added.

[reesesgma]

Sorry its been so long! Almost 19 days I think. Well I wanted to devote all my time to seeing DH while he was home on leave from Iraq. He flew back to Iraq on the 3rd and called this morning telling me he was safely back at his destination in Taji. While he was here, we went to Knotts Berry Farm water park and amusement park, The Medieval Times Restaurant (which we dressed up for!) the Ripleys Believe it or not museum, Vegas, which included staying at circus circus and seeing a magic show and then the Cirque Du Soleil. Then hung out in Vegas for 5 days, which was very nice, but hot. The one thing I must announce to everyone here, is that the Cirque Du Soleil was the most impressive show ever! If you ever have the chance to see them, do it! It is a bit pricey, but honestly worth the money. It was a once in a lifetime experience, and was awesome! We saw the KA show, it was really great, even for kids! We went down to see his family in Phoenix for a few days and then came home and rested. It was very nice to see him home safe. We took tons of pictures, I am going to upload them today and post the link here to the album so you all can see them! I missed everyone and hope everyone has been healthy and well! Many hugs!
Amy in Az

Hope you enjoy the pics. I took way too many!
http://s44.photobucket.com/albums/f25/amykathleenray/Vacation/

[strangeduck]

Yay for you!!  I don't blame you for not spending time on the computer, either.  Gotta get the most out of every moment with your husband.  I've seen Cirque Du Soleil...it was six or seven years ago, but still one of my favorites memories.

Sorry your hubby had to go back.  How long will he be deployed?

[reesesgma]

Its a total of 15 months...well hopefully. He left in December. So he should be home next March. I say hopefully because there was this prediction going around in his unit. If Obama is elected, he says he want to pull out within 6 months, and he will get into office in January, so instead of letting the units come home in March, they would extend till June. The military wont send guys home and ship all kinds of new equipment over there for only 3 months. I dont know though...I dont think anyone can pull out of there within 6 months.

[rowan138]

Oh,it sure looks like yall had a great time!I would love to go to Medieval Times!My husband's on leave right now(though not from Iraq yet)and we've been trying to thnk of somewhere fun to go!I want to do what yall did!What a great combination of things!

[strangeduck]

Its a total of 15 months...well hopefully. He left in December. So he should be home next March. I say hopefully because there was this prediction going around in his unit. If Obama is elected, he says he want to pull out within 6 months, and he will get into office in January, so instead of letting the units come home in March, they would extend till June. The military wont send guys home and ship all kinds of new equipment over there for only 3 months. I dont know though...I dont think anyone can pull out of there within 6 months.

Sadly, I think that you're right.  Regardless of who ends up in the hotseat this November, we're going to be there for a long while just yet.  I wish your husband and everyone else's husbands and sons could come home tomorrow and be safe, but there just isn't any safe way for us to draw down, and if we do we risk the safety of our deployed men and women and the safety of civilians in Iraq as well.

[rowan138]

Wow,that really sucks,Strangeduck.I really don't know anything about all of that,although I should.So,I just have a question for you since you seem to know about the subject,as long as Reeses doesn't mind a really quick hijack!How long do you think it would really take them to end the war and bring everyone home,if they decided to?I just don't really understand any of that!

[strangeduck]

Wow,that really sucks,Strangeduck.I really don't know anything about all of that,although I should.So,I just have a question for you since you seem to know about the subject,as long as Reeses doesn't mind a really quick hijack!How long do you think it would really take them to end the war and bring everyone home,if they decided to?I just don't really understand any of that!

It's just reality.  As much as I hate to agree with anything that comes out of the mouth of our "fearless leader,"  Dubya and Co. have a point when they say withdrawing before completing our mission sends a message to terrorists that they'll get what they want if they blow up enough people.  When we went into Iraq, they had a working infrastructure.  Yes, it was a dictatorship and a nasty one at that, and I cheered as loudly as anyone else when they pulled that murdering bastard Saddam Hussein from his hideyhole, but the country had some stability with him in charge.  They had running water and hospitals and electricity and could be reasonably sure that walking down the street to a neighbor's house wouldn't end with an explosion.

So, we went in and took out Saddam, but we haven't been able to help the country rebuild a stable government.  Saddam sucked, but he kept the warring factions from killing each other in the streets.  The U.S. can't just set up another dictator as our puppet to clamp down like Saddam did, and I'm not sure that anything less than that will provide stability.  They hate us, and want us dead, but they've hated each other for longer than they've even known about us.  War is not a stranger to that region.  They've been killing each other for centuries, and since they all believe that dying for their religion means they ascend directly to the right hand of God, dying holds no fear for them. 

There are umpteen different religious leaders who want to rule the country and refuse to let their followers support anyone or anything else.  And terrorists aren't rational, they aren't like us.  They don't care if someone's mothers, brothers, sisters etc are killed in the fight, as long as their side wins.  So any concession to terrorists simply eggs them on.  They don't want the grey area of diplomacy where you get some of what you want and I get some of what I want and no body has to die for it, they want all or nothing.  Rational, compassionate human beings can't ever win against terrorists.  Saddam held them in check because he had the same mentality and all the power and all the money it takes to put down rebellions.  He didn't hesitate to kill tens or hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians and the insurgents/terrorists knew that.  They also know that Americans won't do that, that we can't do that, so they don't fear us like they did him. 

Any sign of weakness on our part, any sign that we're drawing out of the country, and it will be open season on our soldiers and on their own people.  We can't have everyone come home in one day or one month...it would take months to bring everyone home even if peace broke out tomorrow because packing up and coming home is going to take awhile.  And once we have a smaller force that isn't as able to defend itself...the terrorists who've been taught that killing Americans is a holy act will descend enmass and slaughter our soldiers.   They've more than proved they don't have a problem with killing their own people...Iraqi civilian deaths far outnumber the loss of American soldiers.  The estimate is anywhere from 85,000 to 95,000 and higher.

Until a stable government is in place, a strong, recognized, central government, there is no way to end the war and bring everyone home safely. 

For the record...I'm a flaming bleeding heart liberal.  I hate this war.  I hate that we went in with the flimsiest of excuses and that fathers and mothers and sons and daughters will never see their loved ones again.  I hate seeing coffins draped with American flags.  I hate that my cousin is in Iraq and my aunt and uncle may lose their son.  I hate Bush and his cronies for insisting that this war makes sense, that it makes us safer.  I hate Bush for being able to smile and laugh and refuse to talk to angry parents of dead soldiers.  I wish we had never sent a single soldier into Iraq, that we had stayed in Afghanistan if we had to go to war to avenge the deaths of 9/11.

I'm also a realist and I've spent hours arguing with my liberal friends to try and make them see sense.  I'm voting for Obama in November...not because I have faith in his promise to end the war, but because McCain is nothing more than Bush-light.  I have more faith in Obama to put a stop to the torture that is not being called torture.  I have more faith in Obama to see that the last thing this country needs is tax-cuts and "economic stimulus" packages that just means we have to cut Medicaid and social services and education and funding for the upkeep of our infrastructure. 

Sorry for the hijack...I just wanted to answer Rowan's question.  I have a hard time not climbing on my soapbox about this war. 

[rowan138]

Man,it really sounds like you know alot about all of that!Thank you so much for responding to my question (even though we hijacked!Sorry,Reeses)!I really do understand it much better,now.It is all so complicated.But,the way you explained it makes more sense than anything I ever hear on the news.Thanks again!