An open letter to Don Rumsfeld:

Don,

The other day my wife came home in tears. There were a couple of guys, one 17 and one 19, driving up and down the road near our house. They had a half dozen ground squirrels which they'd shot and were dragging behind their rig. Some were recently deceased and whole, a few were closer to "parts." Seems they wanted to make some kind of a statement, or perhaps attract a little attention. When I confronted them about their sick behavior, they said they "kinda liked it."

Don, it sure looks like some of your best correction faciltiy people are going to end up doing time. If you're running low on talent - which I doubt, but you never know - I'm happy to tell you where you can find a couple of "true blue Americans." I'm sure they'd make you proud.

In case you're wondering, these particular folks are the pride and joy of Troy, Montana.

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And we wonder why the rest of the world hates us.

I keep on trying to imagine how I would feel if my children were killed in my arms, if I lost my father and my husband and two of my brothers all in the same raid, how it would be if my uncle had voluntarily gone to the US and been detained for months, only to return home in a body bag. My imagination isn't that good. All I can think is that it's amazing that there is any good will left for us in the whole country.

Peace is made in circumstances even more dire than those in Iraq. Just as I cannot imagine what it would be like to lose my family to an occupying force, I also can't imagine how you build peace out such a place. It's been done. I wish I had more faith in my government, though.