And all you touch and all you see, Is all your life will ever be.

Reality:

In the deadliest sectarian attack in Baghdad since the American-led invasion, explosions from five powerful car bombs and a mortar shell tore through crowded intersections and marketplaces in the teeming Shiite district of Sadr City on Thursday afternoon, killing at least 144 people and wounding 206, the police said.

GWBush:

Some have argued that the democratic changes we're seeing in the Middle East are destabilizing the region.

Reality:

The attacks were the worst in an intensifying series of revenge killings in recent months, in a cycle that has increasingly paralyzed the political process and segregated the capital into Sunni and Shiite enclaves, and threatened to drag Iraq into an all-out civil war.

GWBush:

This argument rests on a false assumption, that the Middle East was stable to begin with.

Reality:

The authorities seemed intent on avoiding a repeat of the violent fallout that followed the bombing of a major Shiite shrine in Samarra in late February. That attack set off the eruption of sectarian killings, which has gathered momentum during the year and has spun well beyond the control of Iraqi and American security forces.

GWBush:

The reality is that the stability we thought we saw in the Middle East was a mirage. For decades, millions of men and women in the region have been trapped in oppression and hopelessness. And these conditions left a generation disillusioned, and made this region a breeding ground for extremism.

Reality:

“We blame the government for the attacks,” said Said Adel al-Nuri, a representative of the Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr, echoing the general sentiment of frustration and anger in the working-class district, which has more than two million people. “We have no trust in the government or in the Americans.

GWBush:

My country desires peace. Extremists in your midst spread propaganda claiming that the West is engaged in a war against Islam. This propaganda is false, and its purpose is to confuse you and justify acts of terror.

Reality:

American and Sunni Arab officials have argued that a key to peace rests with the aggressive demobilization of the Shiite militias tied to the most powerful Shiite political parties. But Shiite leaders have insisted that the militias remain their final bulwark against the Sunni Arab-led insurgency. And Mr. Maliki, responding to his power base, has chosen a softer, negotiated approach to the militias, frustrating his American partners.

GWBush:

Our goal is to help you build a more tolerant and hopeful society that honors people of all faiths and promote the peace.

The actual combat photos come from a website that has pictures from soldiers. Not the sanitized press pics from the Green Zone, but pictures taken by actual soldiers in pretty horrific conditions.

They are pretty terrible. And they are reality. Reality is not some asshole Neo-Con talking about Democratizing Iraq, reality is people, nice American & Iraqi people, bodies torn apart, invaded, blood spilled, and hearts and minds, both figuratively and literally being strewn across the landscape.

Is it worth it? I don't think so. If you think it's worth it, go enlist and fight. Or shut up and sit down.

If you're brave enough, go to http://www.undermars.com and check out what is really happening to live human beings in Iraq.