This story is quite old, but I’d never heard it, so I figure many of you have not. In August of 2003 US forces found Iraq’s Air Force buried in the desert. We’re talking a real jet fighter, buried in the sand.

Naturally this leads to a question of whether or not WMDs could be buried in Iraq, but we have no way of knowing. What I think this example does though is show the reality of Iraq, something that few Americans grasp. People watch their TV and read their newspapers, and it all seems so easy. There is no human element to even concern themselves with. If WMDs were there, they should have been found. Nevermind that they could be buried like these jets, or flown to Syria. Nevermind that Bill Clinton, Jacques Chirac, John Kerry, Ted Kennedy, Hillary Clinton, Barbara Boxer, Al Gore, John Edwards, Nancy Pelosi, and many others said prior to the war that Saddam Hussein had WMDs (here and here). Their TV news and newspaper haven’t had a picture of a barrel with "WMD" on the side, and that’s all that matters. People are so quick to forget the names mentioned above and label the President a liar.

I found an exceptional Op-Ed piece at a very unlikely location: the LA Times. The writer, Jonah Goldberg, says "The fact that Hussein turned out to be bluffing about WMD isn’t a mark against Bush’s decision. If you’re a cop and a man pulls out a gun and points it at you, you’re within your rights to shoot him, particularly if the man in question is a known criminal who’s shot people before. If it turns out afterward that the gun wasn’t loaded, that’s not the cop’s fault." Excellent analogy showing that the burden of proof was on Saddam Hussein, not the President. Read the whole thing, not too long but very enlightening.

Are your beliefs about the war in Iraq based on facts or rhetoric? Determination or emotion? Strength or pacifism? Body counts or lives liberated? I’m curious to hear your thoughts.

I’ve been so busy working, going to school, and being engaged, lately I’ve been missing my guy buddies. It’s hard because they’re all busy with some of the same things, so ultimately we just don’t see each other much. I wish I could do the bowling thing, but I’m just too busy . It’s hard to admit, but I suppose this is just how things start to work when you get older. Your family starts to become your closest circle of friends, which isn’t bad, just different. So anyways, all us guys should go do something.

Right now I’m watching the video feed of the VP debate last night. If John Edwards says “the reality is….” one more time, I’m going to puke. Cheney is well spoken, makes it much more enjoyable. It’s great how Cheney points out Kerry’s crappy defense record, and all John Edwards can say is “but didn’t you listen to the debate last week!?!” Hopefully Friday’s town hall debate setting will be more friendly to the President.