I woke up in the night at 2:30 in a bit of pain from my lingering migraine. I decided to get up and as a tried and true news junkie, check the headlines.

Yahoo declared 11 minutes before that US forces had launched an offensive into Mosul. It made me feel very sad and worried for the families that are still there. It's hard to imagine looking out your bedroom window, the same window you looked out since you were a toddler, and see tanks rolling down your street, helicopters flying low or maybe some rebel guy on the corner with a rocket launcher. I know the coalition does try to minimize civilian casualties, but I can't help but think about the psychological scars. I have a friend at work who is originally from Tehran. She once described how she had to write her final exam for high school in a bomb shelter. I have another friend who lived in South Africa and was caught in an ANC triple-bombing outside a movie theatre. It's a life I can hardly comprehend.

Then my mind started to wander. I started thinking about the graphic footage of the Marine shooting the Iraqi and I got a little angry. Who are we to judge something we know nothing about based on a 30 second snippet on tv? We don't know where they'd been all day, what they'd seen or how many insurgents they saw lying pretending to be unconscious until they could cause harm. This is war. It ain't pretty. It's not all over in 30 minutes with commercials. Never before in history has a war been judged in real time and even being as much a news junkie as I am, I am disturbed by the whole negative attitude. I feel for that Marine and what he must be going through now. It's like the old saying 'Better to be judged by 12 than carried by 6'. Turn the situation around. A wounded US soldier lying at the edge of a building and an insurgent comes by. You think he's going to tend to his wounds and make it all better? Not bloody likely...and sadly, the chance of him just being shot would be the nicest thing.

Until we've walked in their shoes, seen what they see, smelled what they smell, it's really not our place to lay judgement.

The media being imbedded is a double edged sword. The people want to watch the war unfold from the comfort of their lounge chairs, but are not ready to accept what they see. I believe there is a ban against showing Coalition soldiers wounded or being wounded, but I think if we saw more of what they are going through, public opinion would be much different.

All that thinking...no wonder I'm so tired this morning! Pain's gone though, thankfully!