One of the soldiers on the video with Bush speaks out

SGT Ron Long, an Army medic and one of the soldiers who was in the video call with Bush, blogged his experience. I don't agree with his points of view, though I respect his opinions and his service to our nation. I admire his courage, his belief in what he is doing in Iraq, and his obvious dedication and motivation.

I do, however, have a bone to pick. Let me say, again, that I have nothing but respect for the troops on the front in Iraq and Afghanistan. This is not meant to be an attack, but a disagreement. I want to be clear that I in no way mean to insult, degrade, or dismiss SGT Long's service, or that of any of our troops. And I do not state my disagreement to tear down the morale of the troops.

My disagreement stems from this statement, the gist of which I hear often in discussions about the Iraq war:

I know that we are fighting here, not only to preserve our own freedoms, but to establish those same freedoms for the people of Iraq. It makes my stomach ache to think that we are helping to preserve free speech in the US, while the media uses that freedom to try to RIP DOWN the President and our morale, as US Soldiers.

I have to disagree, specifically with the two statements I put in bold. Iraq has nothing to do with preserving American freedoms. Our soldiers in Iraq are not preserving free speech for us. The invasion and occupation of Iraq have nothing to do with our security or freedom here at home. If we were talking about Afghanistan, I'd buy it. See, Afghanistan is where the group that actually threatened our security by carrying out the 9/11 attacks was based. They weren't in Iraq, until we went in and made Iraq a terrorist magnet.

I respect SGT Ron Long for his service, and I know he serves honorably and exemplifies all that is good about America...but I disagree with his characterization of the Iraq war, with regards to it somehow being a fight for "our freedom". It's not...and it never was.

Iraq War