Heat Wave in the US

The news has been covering the heat wave in the US for the past couple of weeks. Apparently, it was over 100 in California for a few days last week (Jay Leno was doing "It's sooo hot..." jokes nightly, all week, and his opening "Headline", Monday, was "It's so hot, Jay Leno is running out of 'It's so hot' jokes"), and now it's hitting the Midwest. Tomorrow, rains (possibly strong storms) are supposed to come through cooling it down.

HOWEVER, I'd just like to remind anyone who reads this that while we're bitching about 95-100 degree tempuratures in the Midwest (heat index 100-110), just before and as I am writing this, in Baghdad, Iraq, it is 87 degrees at 2:00AM (yes, that's AM) on August 2nd, with highs of 111 degrees (F) for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, and 115(!) degrees (F) Saturday and Sunday expected. (Found at CNN.com - Weather - Baghdad, Iraq). And, in Kabul, Afghanistan, it's 73 degrees at 2:32AM, August 2nd, with highs expected of 104, 98, 104, 104, 104 for Wednesday through Sunday, respectively. (Found at CNN.com - Weather - Kabul, Afghanistan). And those are pretty NORMAL tempuratures for the areas, with not near the shade or breezes we have here!

For those who are under a rock for the shade, or have water in the eyes and ears, to keep cool, and missed it, that's where many of our soldiers are. And they are NOT wearing shorts and tank-tops. They are wearing full, normally long-sleeved shirts and pants, boots, flak-jackets, METAL helmets, and carrying MUCH more than a billfold, change, cell-phone and keys! They have prescious little air-conditioning, and fans only move the hot air around. True... It's most likely a DRY heat... BUT...

So, if you are "dying" of the heat, remember what our soldiers are going through.

And, no... I, personally, don't believe we should get out of Iraq and Afghanistan, as many do, or I believe we will end up with even MORE Middle-East fanatics who hate us even MORE. (Didn't we do that with Bin-Laden? Hussein? and others?) I would believe this whether I believe we should have gotten into the war, in the first place, or not.

I DO believe they (our soldiers and those fighting with them) should be kept in our hearts and prayers, though. And be sure NOT to let our (the US') feelings about the war, itself, color our feelings about our soldiers, like we did in the Viet-Nam war. Remember, they are the same people we were so proud of BEFORE the war.

Bill