For me, the war in Afganistan has changed. As of the beginning of December, my neice Chris is over there. This has caused me pain and sorrow. This has given me nightmares and untold upset stomachs and fits of rage. She is in Military Intelligence, which used to be a phrase I laughed at. I know she is a smart girl, she graduated with a degree and played softball for Sam Houston State. She didn’t get a degree in physical ed, or anything simple. Its a degree in criminology. I love her, and I am very proud that she was smart enough to actually graduate in less than 4 years!

She might be my neice, but thats my baby over there. I watched her grow, I traveled to lots of cities in Southern CA, for years..watching her play softball, sometimes as many as 4 or 5 games a day in a weekend tournament. She was a great lil catcher, our families Johnny Bench, because she could whack that fucking ball right outta the park, like it was nothing.

I have a vested interest in the War on Terror now. I am a stockholder. My stock is that tiny, beautiful blonde-haired kid..who really is an adult..I have to keep reminding myself of that you know…but I digress.

George Bush is the President and fucking CEO of this war, and as a stockholder I have a right to bitch, I have a right to complain and ask for an accounting. I have the right to ask him just wtf he is doing to wrap this shit up and bring them all home safe and sound. We have had troops there since October 2002. We are now looking 2007 square in the eyes. Thats almost five years of soldiers over there, fighting the “War on Terror” and trying to capture Osama. Tony Snowjob will tell you our forces have done a great job over there, Karzai was elected and we have broken the back of Al-Qaeda.

I will tell you that based on various news reports..its going backward more than forward over there in Afghanistan. The opium trade is alive and well. The farmers have no choice and we haven’t offered them one either, as far as I can tell. The “bad guys” are running back and forth between Pakistan and the mountains of Afghanistan. The people of the region have been suffering through decades of wars and this decade isn’t any different. Its the same ol’ shit, just a different country running the war now.

We talk about Iraq because its front and center in our news and our consciousness. Its the war thats going “badly”, to put it in a general term. To be more specific..its a real fucking mess in Iraq. But I now hope we can actually FIX Afghanistan. I want all the lives we have sacrificed to be for the common good of the citizens of Afghanistan, to make their lives better. I want it to work, I don’t want Afghanistan to fall back into the clutches of the Taliban, I want alot of things..but you can’t always get what you want..sometimes, you get what you need.

I have asked Chris to write me a long email, telling me how she sees her job, and how other’s see her job there. I told her I wanted to tell a story from her pov. As I have said before, she will tell you in a heartbeat that she can’t stand Bush43, but she seems excited about what she is doing, and for that..I am thankful. I thank god everytime I see a new email from her in my inbox. She has read my personal blog and commented on it for the first time yesterday. She is a good kid, she never shirks away from a job or responsibility. I bet she is tired of me tellling her to be safe. I hope she never tires of me telling her I Love Her.