Hey jon, just thought this was a really moving letter, and thought I would share it with everyone.

Greetings all from hot, hot, hot Iraq,
We are short indeed...although not quite as short as we had originally thought...our flight home has been posted and is showing up 3 days later than planned. The good news is that we leave in the middle of the night and arrive (all admin complete, including turning our weapons into the armory) ! around dinnertime at Pendleton on the same day we leave (11 hrs time difference). The other good news is it appears we've got commercial contract air carriers taking us home...so we don't have to worry about sleeping on the cold steel deck of an Air Force C-17.

Editors note: This was submitted by a friend who in turn received it from another friend. For good and ill, the Iraqi prisoner abuse mess will remain an issue. On the one hand, right thinking Americans will abhor the stupidity of the actions while on the other hand, political glee will take control and fashion this minor event into some modern day My Lai massacre. I heard some Arabs and Muslims are asking for an apology. I humbly offer mine here:

I am sorry that the last seven times we Americans took up arms and sacrificed the blood of our youth, it was in the defense of Muslims (Bosnia, Kosovo, Gulf War 1, Kuwait, etc.). I am sorry that no such call for an apology upon the extremists came after 9/11. I am sorry that all of the murderers on 9/11 were Islamic Arabs. I am sorry that most Arabs and Muslims have to live in squalor under savage dictatorships. I am sorry that their leaders squander their wealth. I am sorry that their governments breed hate for the US in their religious schools, mosques, and government- controlled media. I am sorry that Yasir Arafat was kicked out of every Arab country and highjacked the Palestinian "cause".

Editors note: This weeks guest rant was again submitted by a former Marine who happens to be a good friend of mine. If you'd like to submit a guest rant for this site drop me a message in the message boards and I'll get back to you with instructions on how to do so. When you ask Americans what Memorial Day means to them, it often appears that the day to remember our fallen takes on a different significance. For many, Memorial Day weekend mainly marks the first long vacation weekend of the year and another mega sales opportunity. Quite possibly the recent controversy over publicly showing pictures of flag-draped cases of American war casualties of the Iraq War could have sensitized the national conscience in a very timely manner.

Editors note: This weeks guest rant was submitted by a former Marine who happens to be a good friend of mine. I need to have a way for users to submit some type of "bio" with their rants but for now this will have to do Reports from the Iraq front and a recent survey clearly indicate growing psychological pressures and disillusionment among many of our deployed troops. At the same time, more troops are seeking conscientious objector status to get out the Army. According to official Army statistics, the number of conscientious objectors has tripled since the beginning of the Iraq War. Sixty soldiers applied for conscientious objector status in 2003 and the numbers are on the rise for 2004. The latest soldier who has won notoriety for declaring himself a conscientious objector is Army Staff Sgt. Camilo Mejia of the 1st Battalion, 124th Infantry Regiment of the Florida National Guard. Mejia, who’s been absent without leave for five months before he turned himself in to authorities, insists that he can't return to Iraq because he believes that the war against Iraq was driven by oil.