[Lothar]

Lt. Daily had his heart in the right place. He showed genuine concern for his fellow man. He was selfless in his words and deeds. For that he should be commended.

Unfortunately, when we allow ourselves to grieve for those who live under regimes like that of Saddam and the Taliban, we lose sight of the reality of human existence.

Oppression and suffering has been the norm of human existence since its beginning. It is for but a few isolated times and places that human beings have enjoyed freedom and individual choice. The right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, endowed by the Creator, was a noble experiment built on unwaivering values and a belief in the individual. That experiment has lost its way, in favor of centralist government and the slow and steady shift of power from The People to The Government.

However, America losing its way and falling into the clutches of the centralists does not make Saddam an OK guy or the Taliban less supportive of Islamic terrorists. We still need to adopt policies to undermine regimes that not only oppress their own people, but also threaten our security. Regimes which give sanctuary to and provide meaningful support to terrorists organizations that have been at war with America for decades should be viewed as a serious threat to our security.

That said, America can be a real beacon for freedom and democracy, only when it gets its own house in order. When individual freedom trumps centralized government authority in America, we can encourage other peoples to remove dictators and totalitarian regimes, and replace them with limited and representative governments that serve the people.

It now appears that what we are doing in Iraq is not encouraging Iraqis to step up and fight for their own freedom in sufficient numbers, despite the fact that it is impossible to find anyone in Iraq that believes that things were better under Saddam.

As much as some might want to install freedom and replace tyrrany for other countries, the oppressed must choose vigorously defended freedom over peaceful serfdom for themselves.

I do believe that Saddam posed a real threat to our national security. I just wish that the mechanism by which Saddam met his demise had come from within Iraq.