Irish Eyes

I was at an St. Patrick Day's celebration today (the original event being canceled by snow) at an Irish Pub. I was in a large crowd of happy people, standing shoulder to shoulder, drinking beer and listening to a group of bagpipe players. I was really enjoying myself, and feeling very proud of my Irish heritage- my maternal grandparent's last name is O'Brien.

Toward the end of their performance, and between songs, the leader of the group invited all of us to raise our glasses and salute the fallen troops in Iraq. He then proceeded to lead his bagpipers into "Amazing Grace." That song played on the bagpipes always brings tears to my eyes, and having it played to honor our men and women that have lost their lives over the past five years was rough.

As of this writing, there have been 4002 confirmed (and 4 pending) troops that have died since 2002 in Iraq. That is a lot of our young men and women who have sacrificed their lives for another country's civil war, and I still cannot find anybody who can give me a good reason for why we are there.

While listening to "Amazing Grace" today, saluting the fallen troops, and blinking back tears, I couldn't help but think about how our current leadership in Washington has really let us down. Senator Obama came forth, before the vote in the Senate to authorize Bush's blank check for this war, and told the country that our involvement in Iraq was a really bad idea. He told us that it would have no logical end, and that too many of our troops would lose their lives fighting another country's battle.

Just saying~