Fallujah, Iraq — Marine corporal John Smith from Peoria, Illinois is hunkering down behind a bullet— riddled wall as he grips his weapon and listens to the spine—chilling sound of bombs exploding nearby. He peers through a crack in the concrete to keep an eye on the smoke—filled street and watches for approaching gunmen. Moments ago, his buddy, Tom Jones, a marine from Yonkers, New York, was killed by sniper fire from the rooftop of a building about 50 yards away. Corporal Smith looks over at the lifeless form of the young man he met just a few days ago. He wipes away a tear as he thinks about the lost opportunity to cultivate that friendship.

Washington, DC — Members of the 9/11 Commission are asking questions of National Security Adviser, Condoleeza Rice. Commissioner Robert Kerrey: 'Dr. Rice, I'm terribly worried that the military tactics in Iraq are going to do a number of things and they're all bad.' Kerrey received a smattering of applause from the audience.

Another Commission member, Thomas Kean: 'Dr. Rice, can you tell us where, in the early days after 9/11, the administration placed Iraq in the strategy for responding to the attack?' Dr. Rice: 'I think, given our hostile relationship with Iraq at the time, this is, after all, a place that tried to assassinate an American president, was still shooting at our planes in the no—fly zone, as well as other hostile actions, it was a reasonable question to ask whether, indeed, Iraq might have been behind this.

Fallujah, Iraq — Masked gunmen are running through the streets killing American civilian workers and US soldiers. Thomas Hamill, an American who works for a US contractor in Iraq, was kidnapped. His captors threatened to kill him and burn his body unless US troops ended their assault on the city. The 'assault' they refer to is the action taken by the military to end the brutal insurgency that murdered and mutilated the bodies of 4 American civilians a week ago. Meanwhile, at least a dozen more US soldiers were killed in sporadic street fighting in the former stronghold of Saddam Hussein.

Boston, Massachusetts — Presumed Democratic nominee for president, John Kerry, said today that President Bush's Policy in Iraq is 'arrogant, inept, reckless, and ideological.' Kerry did not make any derogatory statements about the Iraqi snipers, kidnappers, mutilators, or those who soak human bodies in gasoline and set them afire. Furthermore, Kerry, one of the senators who voted for the war, said the administration's handling of developments in Iraq represents "one of the greatest failures of diplomacy and failures of judgment that I have seen in all the time that I've been in public life."

I have the deepest respect and admiration for the soldiers and civilians who continue to risk their lives to bring freedom to a country that has been forced to live with murder, rape, and torture on their streets and in their homes.

Conversely, I have nothing but contempt for those who would engage in politics that undermine the troops and risk further loss of life on the battlefield. Surely they are aware that their disparaging comments are not lost on the rifleman who draws a bead on one of our soldiers. When they criticize the war, they put a target on the back of every man and woman in uniform.

What really angers me is that they know their denunciation aids and abets the enemy, yet they continue. Additionally, the carping against the war for liberation of an oppressed country is coming from some of the most liberal politicians in the country. Since when did liberals embrace dictatorships? Weren't they the ones railing against the Patriot Act, which they alleged gave our government too much power, even though it's being used to defend us against further attacks?

The leftist establishment in this country has spent more time assailing John Ashcroft than Saddam Hussein, or any of the bloodthirsty group of insurgent leaders in Iraq, all of whom are committed to killing Americans. The relatives of those Americans are watching and listening as they pray for the safety of their loved ones. Is it too much to ask that the Democrats not use those valiant soldiers as pawns in their politically expedient chess game? Perhaps they need to make up their minds whether they are for or against tyranny. In the final analysis, that is the only question.   

Bob Weir writes the syndicated column "Weir Only Human." He's published 7 books, mostly novels, and is a retired sergeant from the NYPD, currently living, and writing, in Flower Mound, Texas. BobWeir777@aol.com