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The ideals of freedom are just that; ideals. Ideals are a great and wonderful thing but they are altogether different from reality. Ideals are like theories great on thought and paper, difficult to implement in real life. The ideals of freedom are not even attainable even in the US of A. They are the lofty ideas that we strife for but never truly attain. Ideals are so unattainable that they even cause discontentment, strife, and disillusionment. Iraq is no different in this regard from the rest of the planet.

The war in Iraq is a real and ideological event. The real war involves arms, blood, fear, and resentment. It is also a war of ideas. Ideas that all men are created equal and all deserve some basic level of personal freedom. That women are roughly on par with men if not outright equals. The question of gender equality is one of the real issues that has to be determined. Iraq in the region of the middle east has been one of the most progressive nations in terms of equality for women. That is one of the questions to be dealt with in the idealogical war.

Then there is the question of freedom. The freedom of the people to choose its' own government representatives. This is a real idealogical battlefield. Even Americans who like to tout themselves as a reasonable example of democratic function are poor examples. There is widespread voter apathy, rhetoric that is removed from reality, and lack of real and diverse choice.

The ideals of freedom is being fought in Iraq. There are some people who would rather others conform to the ideals of a religious sect that they espouse. The means does not matter much but the ends matter all to some of these people. Some of the tactics used to make or influence policy are bombings, including suicide bombings. For some people the ends justify the means. Ideology is a powerful thing. It moves people to do great or terrible things. The war in Iraq is an ideology war as much as it anything else.

The ideology war however is not going well. It costs people sons, daughters, fathers, mothers, and other relations. It costs human lives. It costs a lot of peoples and corporations tax dollars and for what? It seems that the money is spend on ungrateful people who would rather wages terrorism warfare. America and other nations have invested so much in this war and the results are so reluctant and difficult. Iraq has paid even more. The cost of freedom is terrible high. Sometimes people opt for live under dictatorship and one party rule. Sometimes it just costs less.

The ideals of freedom comes at a price. George W. Bush is an example of the cost of the ideal of freedom. There are many ways to assess the cost of freedom, some people pay with their lives. Some pay with the anguish of loosing loved ones and for what? Ideas and ideals are a powerful thing. Ideals are what drive the real war.

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