Mr. Pink Explains Iraq to Her Daughter

I was talking to my husband Bob about the big increase in casualties in Iraq.

My 10-year-old daughter asked, "Tell me again why we are in a war."

I very objectively lay out Bush's case (well, one of them anyway).

"Iraq is a small country. It's located in the middle of the Middle East. It had a mean dictator, Saddam Hussein. Bush thought we could easily invade this country because we have a much more powerful military than Iraq. He thought the Iraq people would be happy because we got rid of the mean dictator. He thought he could set up permanent military bases in Iraq with support from the Iraq people. That way, the U.S. would be able fight other countries in the Middle East easily. It would also mean that we would have some say over the oil production in Iraq. He thought everyone in Iraq wanted our democracy and our presence. He saw the U.S. as being the good guys."

"I thought we were fighting for freedom. That's what my friends tell me."

"Well, Bush thought that spreading democracy would create freedom for the Iraq people."

"But, here's what's happening:

Let's say a bunch of strangers forced themselves into our home. Let's say they don't speak our language. But, let's say they are able to communicate to us that they will be pitching tents in the middle of our living room, and that they are never going to leave. Now, let's say they are telling us that having them live in our house in a tent in the middle of our living room is good for us.

What would we do? We'd all get together and try to figure out ways to booby-trap the house in order to get rid off them. We'd be very nice to them when we saw them because we wouldn't want to be shot or have our house blown up. But, we'd always be thinking of ways to get rid of them.

And, it wouldn't matter if they were nice to us. We'd still see their guns and be afraid because we couldn't really communicate with them. We'd never trust them. And, we'd also be upset because every day we'd see their tents in the middle of our living room. And, what's worse, they wouldn't just stay in the living room. Sometimes, they would go upstairs and into YOUR room and ask you questions about what you were doing, always carrying a gun.

"This is how the Iraq people feel. Does that sound like freedom to you? Wouldn't you feel like killing them even if you never thought about killing another person before? That's how the Iraq people feel. That's why they are all joining together to fight our soldiers. What's worse is that the soldiers are only following orders. They didn't want to pitch the tent in the middle of our living room, but they were told they had to. No one wins in this situation. But, this is the war we are fighting. It's war which creates enemies -- DAILY."

"And, that is why we keep losing soldiers."