L. was 4½ when Bush invaded Iraq. This is his answer to a school assignment to write an opinion piece:

September 11, 2001 was a frightening day for Americans across the country. Three building were attacked and almost 3,000 people died. Terrorists took over four planes, they flew two into the twin towers, one into the Pentagon, and tried to fly one into the White House, but luckily it crashed into a Pennsylvania field instead. Americans were shocked that they were the target of such violence.

If none of these events had happened, the war in Iraq would have never started. The American people wanted revenge, safety and strength after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. A war was just what they needed to feel all of those things. But was Iraq the right target?

The Bush Administration wanted a war, and boy did they put up a fight to get it. They argued that Saddam Hussein (the leader of Iraq) was supporting the terrorists. They claimed that Iraq had a weapon of mass destruction program. The Bush Administration also said that taking out Saddam Hussein would bring democracy to the Middle East.

In my opinion, none of these are true. Saddam Hussein might have supported terrorists, but not al Qaeda terrorists (the terrorists responsible for the 9/11 terrorist attack). None of the 9/11 terrorists came from Iraq. Iraq never had any weapons of mass destruction; none were ever found by weapons inspectors after we invaded. Killing Saddam Hussein might have brought democracy to Iraq, but other leaders in the Middle East probably wouldn’t agree to it. You can’t force democracy on people, it has to come from within the country.

There was no reason for the war whatsoever. All of the Bush Administration’s arguments were untrue. War is never the answer; the only reasons to go to war are if you are attacked or if your allies are under attack. Neither applied in this case, because the Iraqis were not involved in 9/11. More that 4,200 American soldiers and more than 1,000,000 Iraqis have died: so much loss for a war that wasn’t necessary.

Not bad for a 10 year old.

[/proud mom]