No one seems be bothered that we have had troops in Germany and S Korea for 40-50 years and in other places, yet 5 years in Iraq is such a big deal to everyone.
Conflicts take time, the progress we have had is faster than anywhere else in history. Why is everyone so much in a hurry to get out of there. 4000 is sad but all in all a small price to pay if we can pull off making the middle east more democratic over time,,2 down many more to go. The threat of the Islamo fascists is really much bigget than most seem to understand and far better to have the conflict there than here.
Godspeed to our brave troops and pray our leaders do the best they can to give them all the support they need to finish the job they are doing there and everywhere.