Sitting here at the front door of Ft Hood, watching troops go to Iraq, including my only son, and nephews, knowing they all don't come back alive or without loss of limbs or eyesight, is very hard for me this time of year. A blog is where you can record your thoughts. Insidently, my first wife, and son's mother passed in 1998, December was her birth month.

We'll probably miss Saddam once Bush finally hang him. Bush, since before April 9, 2003, now admitting he invaded Iraq with false info, but feels he did the right thing in removing Saddam from power at the price of well over 2200 american lives in almost three years so far, including our brief hunt for Ben-Laden.

It's not over yet or no time soon, without the loss of more american lives. I do not have figures on lives loss from England and other coalition countries.

Iraq, a relatively small country of about 25 million people, never in history posed a threat to a world power like the USA. The only country Iraq ever conquered was Kuwait, a small country. The Iraqis fought Iran with the help of the USA, but they lost.

Our weapon inspectors concluded there were no WMD, back in 1991. It appears Bush wanted to finish a conflict left undone by his father. Saddam is saying his trial is phoney and illegal because our invasion was illegal, and therefore, from a legal standpoint, he is still the president of Iraq.

Sounds funny, but he is right, not that it will save him from execution. That's why Bush wanted to get this election in the history books, supposely by the Iraqi people.

It's true that our invasion of Iraq was illegal. Iraq was not at war with us, was not preparing to go to war with us and was not a threat to us. Bush started out looking for Osama Ben-Laden in another country, as being responsible for the attacks on the WTC, CONDUCTED BY THOSE KNOWN TO BEN-LADEN.

We commited a war of aggression, which international law forbids. It is very true that American invaders are, in effect, trying Saddam. Elections on the 15th, has to be ratified by Dec 31st to be legal. The law and the courts were set up during the occupational government, and the judges were trained by Americans.

Saddam was arrested by Americans, being held in prison by Americans. Was supposed to be turned over to Iraqis, but wasn't. It will go down in history as an American sponsored kangaroo court. Bush is still saying the world is better off with Saddam out of power.

We should not conclude any of this as a claim that Saddam is not a killer of his people. He certainly killed and butchered them continusly. Even in the days when the United States government supported him. Same as we once supported Iran.

As Saddam gets ready for his hanging, he can take pleasure in the fact that he was the cause inadvertently of great and lasting damage to this president and the United States. My regret is the loss of lives we must continue paying based on false information to engage in war. Where does this leave Osama Ben-Laden, probably a free man, until his natural death.