"...our soldiers, aid workers, civil servants, and others are murdered. (That each of these is a volunteer is a great cause for national pride.)"

Volunteers? Only in the sense nobody impressed them the way the English navy used to get sailors. When truck drivers make $100k a year and we pay Blackwater "security" people twice that much, it's a little silly to talk of volunteerism, as if this were some sort of Habitat for Humanity work project or something similar.

Our Iraq effort is driven by money, lots and lots of money, freely distributed to all sorts of contractors and subcontractors and consultants and various assorted people. Trying to make the Iraq war look like a Peace Corps effort might be expected of Mr. Hitchens, but it's pathetically transparent. I think he's losing his touch or losing his enthusiasm, or both.

He meant that people who join the US armed forces are not conscripted.

Given that most people have families to support, it would be a little much to expect them to fight in Iraq gratis, as your hyper-literal meaning of the word "volunteer" suggests they should.

Yes, Arlington, VOLUNTEERS. You know, signing up for something on your own voilition, without being coerced or forced to do so.

Each and every man and woman serving in Iraq and elsewhere in the Global War on Islamist Terrorism is a volunteer. They had a higher calling to put their name on the line and put their own safety on the line for jerks like you who sit on their bloated backsides attacking every positive thing they do. They are a lot better human beings than some self-important prickhead who slanders each and every positive affect that they bring to fruition.

Just as the US Civil War was not about freeing the slaves from the outset, so has the Iraq War morphed into providing the Iraqi people a stable and promising future, and it is good for everyone that it has done so. Every man and woman on this planet is better off for the Iraqi Revolution, as it is a revolution that has succeeded in spite of the best efforts of many on the Left in many countries. That Revolution, both in the governance of the nation of Iraq and in the actions of the international community, ushers in a new generation of freedom-loving people in the Middle East whose prosperity will cause citizens in other Arab and Muslim nations to demand the same representative republic in their homelands.

Yes, the Iraq War was a good thing and has saved many many millions of lives in the long run.

Yes the Iraq war is a good thing: for IRAN! The only country that has grown stronger from this war is Iran.

On another point, the notion that 1) there actually is any legitimacy in the term "Iraqi people" and 2) our presence is actually helping them are both false. Iraq is a construct of British colonial powers who decided to join together states of the Ottoman Empire after WW1. It is for this reason that our maintaining of Iraq's boundaries as they exist currently is false. If one really wants democracy and freedom, one should be all in favor of dividing the country into its spheres of influence (Sunni, Shia, and Kurd) and concentrating US forces in the Kurd region.

However, dividing Iraq will never occur. Turkey will never allow an independent Kurd region and the US gov is kowtowing to them. Any criticism of Saddam's treatment of Kurds during his reign can also apply to Turkey's treatment of Kurds.

Finally, there is no Iraqi revolution. Revolutions do not come from flegitimately foreign invasions. If the Iraqi revolution you mentioned is a peaceful one of building democracy, then it's a rather weak one.

Harim:

Each and every man and woman serving in Iraq and elsewhere in the Global War on Islamist Terrorism is a volunteer. They had a higher calling to put their name on the line and put their own safety on the line for jerks like you who sit on their bloated backsides attacking every positive thing they do. They are a lot better human beings than some self-important prickhead who slanders each and every positive affect that they bring to fruition.

"Global War on Islamist Terrorism?" Is that the new designation? I thought it was simply GWOT -- Global War on Terror. Or GSAVE -- Global War Against Violent Extremism. Or the pithy The Long War. Global War on Islamist Terrorism is just *so* un-PC.

BTW, it goes without saying that since you support this enterprise so wholeheartedly, and since you hold the volunteers in such high regard, that you do us all a *huge* favor and volunteer yourself. We're all cheering for you. Really.

"...jerks like you...self-important prickhead...slanders..."

Well, you do seem to know a good deal about slander, even if it is correctly called libel because it appears in printed form.

"You know, signing up for something on your own voilition, without being coerced or forced to do so."

Do you have any idea how much Blackwater contractors make? I spent about six weeks at Blackwater getting some specialized training before my last deployment and I can tell you that they make a lot. Nobody becomes a mercenary for altruistic reasons.

"Each and every man and woman serving in Iraq and elsewhere in the Global War on Islamist Terrorism is a volunteer. They had a higher calling to put their name on the line and put their own safety on the line for jerks like you who sit on their bloated backsides attacking every positive thing they do."

I don't think you get to change the name of the GWOT. And looking at the number of financial incentives that the military currently offers to keep its numbers up, I chuckle at the thought that we're all motivated by a "higher calling". A higher calling to defend my country? Oh, sure. A higher calling to invade other countries? Not so much. And speaking as an American and OIF veteran, I'm a big fan of the First Amendment, which you seem to dislike.

"Every man and woman on this planet is better off for the Iraqi Revolution, as it is a revolution that has succeeded in spite of the best efforts of many on the Left in many countries. That Revolution, both in the governance of the nation of Iraq and in the actions of the international community, ushers in a new generation of freedom-loving people in the Middle East whose prosperity will cause citizens in other Arab and Muslim nations to demand the same representative republic in their homelands."

And now that Frodo has destroyed the Ring, we'll all live happily ever after! Seriously, if you're into fantasy, you could do better than what you just wrote. :-)

"Yes, the Iraq War was a good thing and has saved many many millions of lives in the long run."

Many many millions? That's almost as good as it being the central war for the future of all civilization. I'm looking around for the hordes of orcs and I'm just not seeing any.

Besides, if it was that important, all the more reason to not fight it stupidly.

And I expect you to tell us all about boot camp, since I expect you'll be on your way there soon. Remember, being in good shape and keeping your sense of humor are the things that will save you there. I speak from experience, even if I did go to OCS instead. ;-)