Iraq

Today it seems to be truly over...this war in Iraq.  Holy Moley, Hallelujah, and Thankyou, Obama.

It looks like Everyone is coming home by December 31!  Can this be true?  Thank goodness! 
(Everyone....except the approximately 4,500  American men and women who sacrificed their lives in Iraq....plus the English and European troops, and countless Iraqi citizens....)

I well-remember the day this war started some ten years ago.  We had tickets to the "Broadway by the Bay" production of THE PRODUCERS.  We went to dinner with friends, then walked to one of the premiere theatres in San Francisco, to see the touring show.  I was totally out-of-sorts, knowing that G.Bush was pushing war.  Shortly before we went into the theater, we heard that WAR had indeed been declared against IRAQ.  Why?  Because they had "Weapons of Mass Destruction."  (And now we all know how true that was...)

THE PRODUCERS was well done.  But during the show-stopping number - "Springtime for Hitler" - while everyone around me was clapping and laughing - I dissolved into sobs, and couldn't stop.  We were at war.  It horrified me, it left me devastated.   My poor husband whispered, "What's wrong?" and offered me Kleenex.  I was speechless. 

"Springtime for Hitler" - from the 2008 SRT production of THE PRODUCERS

After we got home that evening, I lit a candle and put it into the window, determined to keep it there until our boys came home.  Later - for some strange reason - while looking at GW Bush standing in front of a "Mission Accomplished" sign on one of our aircraft carriers, I decided to put the candle away.  It was a premature action, to say the least. 

I still don't know exactly what to say about this war.  If only I were clever....if only I had the words to express my feelings about war....and about the end of this war. 

Perhaps the best I can do is 'Thank God It's Over.' 

I still hope for the best, regarding All the Rest of It.  Afghanistan.  The Middle East.  Russia.  China.  The Ghettoes of America. 

YIKES!  My plan was to celebrate the end of Iraq....but I'm totally depressing myself!!  Time to get up and move! 

RIFF!  LET'S GO FOR A WALK!!!!!!!!  COME ON, KEEPER....LET'S GO!!!!!!