I'm not an adult, I'm still in high school and today is a pretty down day for me. I remember when I used to look up at the US and what it was, it's history, it's present and (most) of it's ways of doing things. [spoiler]Then I learned about the middle eastern conflicts in school, about Saddam Hussein and Koweit, Afghanistan and Bin Laden. I felt betrayed. The one country I thought that no-one could possibly hate. That fought an empire single-handedly (granted with a little french help), and that fought itself so that slavery could be stopped. [/spoiler] America for me was the country not many had the chance of seeing much, but everyone felt a part of. [spoiler]But I want to know, to help me see America the way I did before, do you realize at least part of what you did? That Bin Laden was CIA trained? That the Iraqi conflict (that Germany and France both opposed and that was not allowed by the United nations which [u]you[/u] created) was led for the sole purpose of securing oil reserves? And that this violence imposed on a country who's innocent people you terrified into terrorism?[/spoiler] All I need is restoring of faith because even if I've never been there, I still felt like I had but I don't anymore. Do you know now? Disclaimer (because I'm anticipating): I do [b]not[/b] hate the American troops who risked their lives doing a job no-one else was ever capable of doing. Many coming back scarred both mentally and physically and I can't imagine losing a friend the way many did. I respect them because they upheld many of our shared values allowing our freedom of speech and actions. I realize that many will reply disapprovingly and I'm not particularly fragile so let the hate flow.