I grew up loving my country and consider myself quite patriotic.

Having lived outside of the U.S. for almost a decade years ago, I find that I’m perhaps more sensitive to my heritage and emotional about my nation than some might be. The Star Spangled Banner is capable of bringing tears to my eyes; I can’t hear Lee Greenwood’s God Bless the USA without being reduced to an emotional wreck; I actually put my hand over my heart when the flag is paraded by me; I take pride in my dad having served in the “Big One;” my admiration for my son’s service in Iraq is enormous, and I’m convinced that there is no greater, nor better, place on the face of the earth to call “home” than the good ‘ol US of A.

But this morning I found myself feeling a sinister and uncomfortable emotion that felt way too “unAmerican.” It is a feeling that has wafted across my heart several times in the past few months, but today it was no longer a mere wisp, but an acrid smoke.

This greeted me this morning:

Truck bomb kills 9 U.S. soldiers in Iraq
BAGHDAD – An al-Qaida-linked group posted a Web statement Tuesday claiming responsibility for a suicide truck bombing that killed nine U.S. paratroopers and wounded 20 in the worst attack on American ground forces in Iraq in more than a year. The Islamic State of Iraq…said it was behind Monday’s attack on a U.S. patrol base in Diyala province northeast of Baghdad…The victims were all members of the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division, said a spokesman for the Fort Bragg, N.C.-based unit. It was the highest number of casualties for the division since the war began, Maj. Tom Earnhardt said.

First thought was that it was where my son is; second thought was that he had not called as promised yesterday – his birthday, and finally, he’d cryptically implied he’d be participating in some operations south of his usual theater, close to the Diyala province. Additionally, and macabrely thankfully, the 82nd Airborne was mentioned as the attachment of the victims, not the 2-27th. These were my son’s buddies. He was transferred from the 82nd two months before he was sent to Iraq. But it was not his unit.

Then, juxtaposed against this, a replay of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada’s statement last week:

I believe … that this war is lost, and this surge is not accomplishing anything.

Way to go Harry! Let’s give the troops a good morale boost!

Finally, former New York Times Baghdad bureau chief John Burns was on this morning’s Today Show and stated:

…the insurgents will always trade territory for time because they know that the political dynamic in the United States is moving in a direction that is probably going to favor the [U.S.] pullout. The common view, even within the Iraqi government, is that this government is just about dead in the water. That the politicians that make up this government are as far apart as they ever were and there is simply no political will to reach the kind of national compromises on key issues that President Bush, and indeed the Iraqi people, would like to see.

I think these constituent ethnic groups and their political leaders believe, against the probability of American troop withdrawal some time in the next couple of years, that this is going to go to an all-out civil war. And therefore they see not much reason to make compromises if in the end there is going to be a fallout…power in Iraq has always been a zero-sum game. There’s no willingness, yet, on the part of the Shi’ites or Sunnis to engage in a genuine power-sharing arrangement.

Now, here is my un-American sentiment: with our politicians using our boy’s lives as pawns in their own power mongering, the Iraqi politicians doing the same with the Iraqui citizens, the climate for any good being accomplished being intentionally castrated, it’s time for us to go. There is no surrender or loss. This is a no-win situation for anyone except those who are willing to kill, torture, maim and mutilate any and all in order to get what they want. We, as Americans, are not willing to do that, thankfully. So, it’s time for us to leave. Period.

The long-terms losers in this are the Iraqi’s, not the Americans.

I’m tired of the Reids, Pelosis, and Bushes making political gain with the blood of our soldiers.

I’m tired of the political “gods,” both democrat and republican, sounding so sanctimonious and feigning as though they are acting on my behalf and for my welfare.

I’m tired of seeing my country painted as an aggressor by those who are merciless terrorists.

These sentiments tear at my heart . . . and cause me to fear for my son. Thank you, o great keepers of the American way!