Here’s some good news, finally. I’m an optimist in some areas. I’m a realist in many, but I like to think that most people are smart enough (or good enough) to believe that all Americans should have health care and personal sacrifices, though unpleasant, are necessary for such. It’s not good to think that I’ll get paid less to help someone else, but that’s kind of the American ideal. A country that bands together to help out the little guy.

Thus, you can imagine my joy at taking a look at some recent poll numbers on health care, amongst other issues. You can read if you like, but here’s the important bit:

Very nice, America. I’m proud of you. And it strikes another blow against the right-wing squawkboxes who insist that their viewpoints represent “most Americans” or “real Americans”. I’ve theorized that America is more liberal than it lets on, mostly kowtowed by the belligerent neocons into staying quiet for fear of sounding “radical” or “un-American”, and it looks like I’m right.

Calling Iraq the center for the War on Terror is becoming more and more of a self-fulfilling prophecy, it seems. When we see that 18 Iraqi police officers were kidnapped and killed by a group affiliated with al Qaeda, it’s hard to assert that Iraq is no longer a part of the WoT.

A group called the Islamic State in Iraq said in an Internet statement it had kidnapped 18 men working for the Shi’ite-dominated Interior Ministry following “the rape of our sister … Sabreen Janabi”.

The group later said it had killed them all after the government ignored demands it made for their release.

You can poke around on the old interwebs to get a primer on the Islamic State in Iraq, but the short story is that it’s an al Qaeda affiliate whose goal is to, guess what, establish in Iraq an Islamic-law type government.

It’s times like these where I can’t help but wonder what’s actually going on in our “war”. I know our soldiers are putting themselves in danger and I know they’re doing all they can, but what kind of orders are they getting? Who are they actually fighting and who are they not? It seems, daily almost, that little to no progress is being made in stopping the rise of terrorism in Iraq.

This is, of course, hardly the fault of the troops. They do as they’re told and frequently rise above that to help the civilians who are getting little to no help from our higher ups. But with the Taliban and al Qaeda both on the rise, recruiting, and now taking claim for attacks, what have we accomplished after 9/11? The hijackers themselves are obviously dead, the organizers are alive and their group is still out there. It’s quite depressing.