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When the French refused to participate in the war against Iraq, they were portrayed as cowards. This is a completely wrongful portrayal of the French.
[http://www.vbwtemplates.blogspot.com International News] What is more likely: That a nuclear power with $2 trillion GDP would be afraid of a weak, poor and stupid enemy? Or is it that they had ethical reservations about sending French people to die in order to intervene in another country's internal affairs?

Granted Saddam Hussein was a sorry piece of trash. But Americans made bigger asses of themselves in Iraq than did Saddam Hussein. The mission did not require torturing people, sexually abusing people, or slaughtering unarmed unthreatening civilians from gunships. This kind of reckless and heartless behavior made America hated, even more than they had been hated previously, around the Middle East. And that does not begin to work in America's favor.

Are Americans evil? No, but some of them make very big mistakes. The brutal behavior of American troops in Iraq has worked in favor of Muslim demagogues who want to claim that America and Israel are the Great Satan, and that their "civilization" deserves to destroy them. The cowboy approach to foreign policy under Bush resulted in America, who was supported by most of the world in the wake of 9-11 attacks, losing all sympathy that had been directed at it and making Americans look like a bunch of sadistic brutes.

A true patriot is not someone who goes with the decisions of the president when these decisions are wrong. A true patriot is someone who seeks benefit for his country, and that also means influencing its policy toward better behavior. When the country is on the wrong course, the patriot needs to correct it. Unfortunately we did not see that from most people who claim themselves American patriots in the Iraq war. Which means that these people have no business claiming themselves to be American patriots.

A real patriot would demand ethical behavior of his country's military troops. You want to dispose a dictator? Fine, go for it, but don't slaughter unarmed unthreatening civilians from gunships. Don't hire Blackwater to kill hundreds of thousands of civilians. Don't torture and sexually abuse people. Don't make your people, and your country, look like a bunch of creeps.

Unfortunately it does not appear that America has learned this lesson. America's intervention in Iraq was managed in a reckless and stupid manner. These people will grow up knowing about how much they've been wronged by America. And this will cause all sorts of problems for America down the road.

I say this as an American citizen who wants to see good things happen for America. But brutal and stupid practices stand in the way of this. The responsibility that is demanded of the individual must also be demanded of the military. And that means recognizing that cowboy policies do not work, and that international affairs require a more intelligent and prudent approach