I just read an article from fox news that offers a rather pessimistic view of what we can expect. According to the article (found here http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,372967,00.html ) The Pentagon has released a report discussing how the Taliban has regrouped and will be escalating their terrorist agenda.

We've been in Iraq for seven years now. My ex-husband actually spent a year out there, missing the birth of our second child, and coming back far more out of it then he went in. I don't blame him for coming back the way he did, suffering from post traumatic stress disorder, upset over the loss of friends he considered family, finding out that his sister had committed suicide while he was away and we hid it from him so as not to add insult to injury while he was in a warzone, etc. He'd been through a lot, and he was entitled to have a bit of a mental breakdown and have difficulty adjusting to life outside of the armed forces after that.

Still, the fact remains that this war has put enormous strain on the U.S. economy, the majority of people are feeling it, I know I am. It has destroyed families. Lives (militant and civilian alike) have been lost. And, after all that, now we have to fear an escalation in terrorism? I know mama said life isn't fair, but come on! What silver lining was there in this cloud again?

With this news, I'm trying to keep my eyes on what good has come out of this war. I can think of only the fact that there are some people living in Iraq that appreciate the soldiers' presence, and/or the help in rebuilding their army and police. There are others, however, that never wanted us there at all! So, that's still in the 50/50 positive/negative zone. For the life of me, I can't think of any other "good" that's come from this war. And, I can't stand to think that all those lives may have been lost for nothing. That all those families may have been destroyed simply to delay and/or worsen the inevitable actually makes me physically ill.

I want to think that the lives that were lost at the very least spared two others. I'm just not that optimistic as of yet.