Recently I attended a punk rock show. It featured Strike Anywhere, easily my favorite band. They tend to be quite liberal, which is typical for punk rock, and although I'm becoming less liberal the more I live, I'm still more of a Democrat than anything, so I appreciate their view and the lyrics which express it.

I was there with my pro-war, pro-Bush boyfriend who purposely doesn't listen to Strike Anywhere's lyrics because then he would hate them, and they make good music.

The band which performed before Strike Anywhere had a moment to kill before their next song began, and the lead singer said something about his brother having been deployed to Iraq. He stated that he was in Germany now, but that he'd seen horrible things while in Iraq. The lead singer made a comment about the war being pointless and that his brother fought and risked his life for nothing.

My boyfriend, for good reason, was quite irked by this. He shouted, "He's fighting for you".

Initially I was annoyed by his reaction, but when the band ended their set and we sat at the bar waiting for Strike Anywhere to start performing, I realized why those of us who are anti-this-war feel the way we do. We don't know what we're fighting for. Even someone whose brother fought in Iraq and spoke to him about his experiences doesn't understand why we're fighting, and if someone that close to the action is so uninformed, how can the rest of us have information enough to support a seemingly purposeless war?

People like to tell me that we're fighting a preventative war, that we're trying to keep the terrorists from creating another 9-11. They try to tell me that we're fighting for freedom, and Democracy, and peace of mind. What it comes down to is that we need our leader to stand up and tell us flat out what we're in Iraq for. We conquered the terrorists who hurt us. We dealt with that problem. Capturing Sadam was important too, as is securing the government after his fall. But everything seems incredibly vague, and between the ridiculous media and Bush's inability to clearly portray anything in an understandable manner is leaving the public in the dark. We all need to understand what we're fighting for, and if there isn't an explanation that can be giving, then maybe we shouldn't be fighting.