Many people know me but few know how deeply the following matters cut into my soul. Fewer still know that I stay awake until the sun comes up most nights, unable to sleep and dwelling on these matters that have plagued me all my life (but mostly since I served in the military), because there is never an end to them and because - what good is building a beautiful life, home or family in a neighborhood that is located in a world that is on fire? Sometimes, I admire people who can just ignore these things but, mostly, I just pity them. If you truly want to know me better, keep reading. If not, so be it. I hope we can still be friends. ^_^ (y) There are many reasons that people like to believe they are doing the 'right things' - yet, life still continues to be miserable for said people. Often times, it is because they are so good at deceiving themselves. There are two ways to do that: Believing in things that are not true...and NOT believing in those things that are. All humans, regardless of 'polarity', seem to struggle with this - whether they pray to "Al lah" (literal translation: 'The God') or whether they prefer the 'Christian God' - whom are one and the same; At least, they should be to all who believe in a monotheistic, Abrahamic God. Few ever bother to do the research to find out truth. Instead, they prefer to jump on the 'social posturing bandwagon' with the uninformed, indoctrinated masses claiming to know what did, what is and what will happen for the sake of their own local popularity...whether that locality is Baghdad or Birmingham. Nowhere else is this more foolish and fatal to humanity than when regarding war. Unfortunately, many people who served in the military and survived, those who are well-informed, honest, not bigoted, are diligent and/or skilled enough to find out for themselves (not nearly enough people, unfortunately) have to tolerate the idiocy of people who do not know what they are talking about while they repeatedly attempt to explain how and what they do know...to those who already clearly know the sad truth - a truth being made more sad by the very perpetuation of their misguided understanding. This only further aggravates the problem...and the world spirals into chaos. The war in Iraq was unjust and based on a lie, unilaterally begun in spite of worldwide resistance - not to mention - begun before ending the true war in Afghanistan, which was multilateral and justified. The war in Iraq was also a failure - just like Afghanistan was, as a result of being interrupted and having the mission distracted by having to focus on the travesty that was the Iraq war. Further aggravating the sheer idiocy begun (and horribly/fatally mismanaged) over the past 15 or so years was the real truth that it all led to (and even enabled) the foundation of ISIS - something that, primarily, the US but also several other western leaders like to blame on others but are, themselves, responsible for. When folks are ready to stop believing what they hear, what makes them popular with their 'friends', what they are told to believe or what they choose to believe because it seems to be more convenient or popular within their 'local culture' - even though things are not getting better, maybe they will seek a better answer. By the way, a war cannot be fought against an idea. Despite WW1 being called the 'War To End All Wars' and even Osama BinLaden being killed along with al Qaeda being all but decimated....Here we are - still trying to fight an 'idea' - a war on terror, something that will never go away, and still failing miserably. It's time to wake up...while there's still something to wake up to. Here is the truth:

Many people know me but few know how deeply the following matters cut into my soul. Fewer still know that I stay awake until the sun comes up most nights, unable to sleep and dwelling on these matters that have plagued me all my life (but mostly since I served in the military), because there is never an end to them and because - what good is building a beautiful life, home or family in a neighborhood that is located in a world that is on fire? Sometimes, I admire people who can just ignore these things but, mostly, I just pity them. If you truly want to know me better, keep reading. If not, so be it. I hope we can still be friends. ^_^ (y) There are many reasons that people like to believe they are doing the 'right things' - yet, life still continues to be miserable for said people. Often times, it is because they are so good at deceiving themselves. There are two ways to do that: Believing in things that are not true...and NOT believing in those things that are. All humans, regardless of 'polarity', seem to struggle with this - whether they pray to "Al lah" (literal translation: 'The God') or whether they prefer the 'Christian God' - whom are one and the same; At least, they should be to all who believe in a monotheistic, Abrahamic God. Few ever bother to do the research to find out truth. Instead, they prefer to jump on the 'social posturing bandwagon' with the uninformed, indoctrinated masses claiming to know what did, what is and what will happen for the sake of their own local popularity...whether that locality is Baghdad or Birmingham. Nowhere else is this more foolish and fatal to humanity than when regarding war. Unfortunately, many people who served in the military and survived, those who are well-informed, honest, not bigoted, are diligent and/or skilled enough to find out for themselves (not nearly enough people, unfortunately) have to tolerate the idiocy of people who do not know what they are talking about while they repeatedly attempt to explain how and what they do know...to those who already clearly know the sad truth - a truth being made more sad by the very perpetuation of their misguided understanding. This only further aggravates the problem...and the world spirals into chaos. The war in Iraq was unjust and based on a lie, unilaterally begun in spite of worldwide resistance - not to mention - begun before ending the true war in Afghanistan, which was multilateral and justified. The war in Iraq was also a failure - just like Afghanistan was, as a result of being interrupted and having the mission distracted by having to focus on the travesty that was the Iraq war. Further aggravating the sheer idiocy begun (and horribly/fatally mismanaged) over the past 15 or so years was the real truth that it all led to (and even enabled) the foundation of ISIS - something that, primarily, the US but also several other western leaders like to blame on others but are, themselves, responsible for. When folks are ready to stop believing what they hear, what makes them popular with their 'friends', what they are told to believe or what they choose to believe because it seems to be more convenient or popular within their 'local culture' - even though things are not getting better, maybe they will seek a better answer. By the way, a war cannot be fought against an idea. Despite WW1 being called the 'War To End All Wars' and even Osama BinLaden being killed along with al Qaeda being all but decimated....Here we are - still trying to fight an 'idea' - a war on terror, something that will never go away, and still failing miserably. It's time to wake up...while there's still something to wake up to. Here is the truth: - The long read: One of the Islamic State’s senior commanders reveals exclusive details of the terror group’s origins inside an Iraqi prison – right under the noses of their American jailers. Report by Martin Chulov