Well, personally, I have nothing but respect for any soldier anywhere, and I suppose, perforce, that has to include even “enemy” soldiers.  Soldiers are soldiers; they’re not the ones that make the decisions. 

The culpability of a soldier for what goes on in any war is limited (unless there’s a draft, which can be outrageously unfair) to his/her decision to sign up and let someone else tell him/her what to do.  If you love your country (who doesn’t?) and you’re a trusting person, I wouldn’t blame you for signing up to be a soldier.  I’d think you were brave. 

I think Bush has embarrassed the whole world, and that this will end, and that it won’t happen quite so stupidly ever again.  Maybe I’m just optimistic, but I do believe in social evolution.  So maybe the Bushes will have been, ultimately, a good thing. 

Meanwhile, brave soldiers put themselves in harm’s way for OUR sakes, and it’s very important to make a distinction between what one thinks about a “country” (whatever that means) and what one thinks about its citizens, and what one thinks about its government. 

Americans are said to have a bad reputation, but if you run into an American, just an average American, he or she is nice.  I’m always amazed by how nice most people are, compared by the carnage that goes on in the world due to people who are so removed from it that they treat it like a Parcheesi game.