Dear Reader,

Today there is no advertising, no jokes, no forum highlights, nothing but a few thoughts I'd like to share with you.

It's my youngest daughter's birthday (she's five) and she has been talking about this day for weeks. I'm trying to share her excitement, but it's damn hard when my mind keeps drifting off to twelve years ago when I made eye contact with an Iraqi girl about the same age, who was begging for food south of Basra. I had to look away and keep going. But I will never forget her face. There were too many of them -- little kids lining the road, hoping that the American GIs would throw them some MREs, or a plastic bottle of water. We didn't have any more to hand out.

Or my mind wanders to the nights I spent on the Iraqi border, watching the bombing raids and the rocket attacks. We could see the impacting fireballs and hear the rumbling thunder that would last until dawn. This went on for weeks, and we thought "better him than me". It was only during the ground offensive that we drove through these wastelands, surveying the smoldering black hulks that had been the pride of the Iraqi Republican Guard. Their soldiers surrendered in droves, and those who didn't were killed.

Twelve years ago -- and now all this crap comes back. Some of you have family members there, and I hope for God's speed; that this is over quickly without too much suffering. And the Iraqi people are in my thoughts as well. This is a very sad time for us all.

And this has always been a happy time for me; first days of Spring, my daughter's birthday (and my mother's as well). And looking at my daughter who is seemingly oblivious with this all, I hope she will only experience these "war images" vicariously through tales from her old man. There are many, many people who are not so lucky.

As always,
Peace