Reply #61: I am sorry for your neighbor's family

[Lisa]

And even sorrier for the family of his dead comrade. I actually hope that your neighbor won't have any recollection of what she said, when she meets the parents of a soldier who had even worse injuries than her son ... or whose child will never come home at all. It sounds like she's grasping at straws to rationalize what happened. I don't think she's the only military mom who clings desperately to the belief that Iraq was a noble quest and that Bush is an honorable and trustworthy man. Nobody wants to believe that they have suffered for nothing.

She and her son might never change their minds -- I've met people from wars many decades ago, who still believe that they were doing the right thing. But from what I've heard, there are increasing numbers of people in their situation who don't think that this is a "good war". Her son might have scoffed at the anti-war protesters, but he might feel differently if it's coming from the guy in the next hospital bed.