I know ya'll don't have the original email sent to me to view but I thought I'd post my messy response as it touches on several of my personal positions.

 Original email 17 November 0650 am

 Good Morning,

I have been a long time lurker on OS. I only recently established an account so I could comment on the many posts that struck my fancy. I did not think it would take me so long to post here as I have a couple of other blogs I maintain.

I often get upset when speaking to Americans at home over their (or my percieved) lack of action in regards to the restriction of their civil rights. I constantly just BARELY hold on to my temper when I hear people fuss about their "right to bear arms" and yet say little to nothing about their rights to free speech, gather, have a speedy and fair trial, and not be subject to illegal searches or seizure. I HIGHLY disapprove of the PATRIOT Act (the name of the thing says it all doesn't it) and am frustrated by those that have come to agree it's too much and still do nothing.

I find the war in Afghanistan to have been a logical step. The Taliban SHOULD have been addressed years before then AND we shouldn't have left in 1991. I would have PREFFERED we had focused on eliminating Al Qaida and the Taliban and not shifted our entire focus to a war that made little to no sense in Iraq. At the time the Iraq war was spinning up it was the general consensus in my portion of the military community (USAF stationed with me in the UK) that the evidence presented was being taken COMPLETELY out of context and was BS. 5 years later we're vindicated but still there.

Afghanistan has never been conquered. Luckily that is not our goal here. I work in the command primarily tasked with the mentoring of the GoA and miltary forces so to get them up and running. There are issues...alot of issues...but we're on the right path. We are starting from the bottom, the ANP in the villages and districts, and building from there while working on the the leadership at the top. There are other issues in Afghanistan aside from the government and the Taliban. Considering the amounts of illegal opium produced here and that 90% of the world's heroin comes from here we couldn't just leave if we wanted to (though personally I'd suggest aiding AFG in turning the poppy into a national industry of some sort via the production of morphine and tyenol). The fact is Afghanistan is the fourth poorest country in the world and even after everything is said and done they don't have substanial resources to fall back on...or even that one resource known as black gold.

You view America today as different from the America you were taught about. I think that is where we differ. I always felt that in schools we teach a "golden" version of American history for indoctrination and propoganda purposes...all countries do. The annoyance I feel at that is why I'll likely never use my history degree to teach.

I am quite upset at some of the activity, the passing of three anti-equality bills, in the US...and also upset that I'm not there to join in on the protest to get them removed. I am "happy" that Americans are stepping up yet again in regards to opposing those horrendous "laws."

I am aware that President Elect Obama has alot on his plate. I am not expecting a miracle in regards to how we do (gov) business in the US. What I expect is competenance and the curtailing of all this executive order nonsense that has made Congress into an accessory. As far as his being a President of an Imperialist empire...empire does not work. At least not one which uses the military to a ridiculous extent as we do. The British Empire and the Soviet Union failed because they could not afford their empires. WE cannot afford our current activities so I'm sure our "Imperial" doctrine is at its end.

I already joined change.gov and hope the rest of the BO.com team shall do so as well. Since so many have invested time (and themselves) into this campaign, and now presidency, President Elect Obama cannot isolate himself. I did not join a personality cult...I elected a leader to get a job done based on his platform. I'm going to "trust" (for now) an elected official to stick to his platform and do what he says he'll do and that means being transparent and open to his electorate, the American people.

Hmm, I wrote this email kind of quickly so forgive any spelling and grammar errors. I might be a bit groggy and all over the place in this email since it's about 0650 and I came in a bit after 0500.

Siobhan