Con #1. Bush favors Bin Laden family over American interests. Regarding Bin Laden family leaving country, we as Americans don't punish people for crimes they didn't commit. Releasing them was civil answer. Imagine if your cousin blew up a building, would you want to go to jail for it? And what do you think terrorists would have done to our families? Getting them out of country stemmed a potential lynching, which would have made America look as bad as our enemies. It was right thing to do.

Con #2. Halliburton and other war corporations are self-serving enemies of America, conspiring with President for profit and privileges. These are public companies he is attacking. They are owned by millions of stockholders. America owns them. Moore criticized executive appointments in Iraq and Afghanistan by "exposing" their prior relationships to President, implying conspiracy. There is no immorality due to those appointed being associates of President, any more than showing preference in choosing his cabinet. Experienced leaders choose people they like--they don't have to field resumes.

Con #3. Our poor are preyed upon by U. S. military recruiters. That poor and middle classes do majority of fighting is not a conspiracy of Bush presidency, but a historical fact of all armies in all nations. Upper class parents hand down a disciplined living structure to their children, while middle and lower class parents provide limited to no living structure, which is reflected in their economic status. Their children need and should seek kind of discipline that military provides, and if they're smart, they carry that rational order into their private lives. Upper class youth already have a plan at that stage, lead self-directed lives much earlier, and therefore avoid risk of being called into action. Moore's footage defeated his own argument in that kids at upscale malls were approached directly and weren't interested; their "influential" parents obviously weren't intervening. (It's a voluntary army, Michael).

Con #4. A negative soldier's viewpoint reveals immorality of war. A wounded soldier has good cause to question why he was there in first place and to believe that war is devastatingly senseless, which is true for aggressor. But American civilization cannot tolerate random acts of violence, which are commonplace in Islamic Fundamentalist regions, to happen here. If necessary, we have to rout them out at source. Twenty year-olds won't have experience to judge policy of a nation, but should be able to comprehend right and wrong at a more basic level. We must honor those who fight for us; we must shelter our fallen, but given blatant horrors of enemy versus American life, he should know he's on right side.

The cousin, his wife S. and their two daughters have been houseguests these last three days. They drove up to house a couple of days ago with several bags of laundry. “There hasn’t been water in our area for three days…” The cousins wife huffed as she dragged along a black plastic bag of dirty clothes. “The water came late last night and disappeared three hours later… what about you?” Our water had not been cut off completely, but it came and went during day.

Water has been a big problem in many areas all over Baghdad. Houses without electric water pumps don’t always have access to water. Today it was same situation in most of areas. They say water came for a couple of hours and then disappeared again. We’re filling up plastic containers and pots just to be on safe side. It is not a good idea to be caught without water in June heat in Iraq.

“I need to bathe children and wash all these clothes,” S. called to me as older of little girls and I hauled out their overnight bag. “And sheets- you know nothing has been washed since last weeks ajaja…” We call a dust storm an “ajaja” in Iraq. I don’t think there’s a proper translation for that word. Last week, a few large ajajas kept Baghdad in a sort of pale yellow haze. What happens when an ajaja settles on city is that within a couple of hours, air becomes heavy and thick with beige powdery sand. Visibility decreases during these dust storms and it often becomes difficult to drive or see out window.

On such occasions, we rush about house shutting windows tightly in a largely futile attempt to keep dust out of house. For people with allergies or asthma- it’s a nightmare. The only thing that alleviates situation somewhat is air conditioning. The air feels a little less dusty when there’s an air conditioner pumping cool air into room.

One dust storm last week was so heavy, E. slept for a couple of hours during its peak and woke up with little beige-tipped lashes from dust that had settled on his face while he was dozing. You can even taste dust in food sometimes. These storms can last anywhere from a few hours to several days.

After ajaja is over and air has cleared somewhat, we begin cleaning process. By this time, furniture is all covered with a light film of orangish dirt, windows are grimy, and garden, driveway and trees all look like they have recently emerged from a sea of dust. We spend days after such storms washing, wiping, polishing and beating dust out of house.

“I’ve been dying to wash curtains and sheets since ajaja…” S. breathed, pulling out dusty curtains from plastic bag. She paused suddenly, a horrific idea occurring to her, “You have water, right? Right?” We had water, I assured her. I didn’t mention, however, that there had been no electricity for better part of morning and generator was providing only enough for refrigerator, television and a few lights. The standard washing machine consumed too much water and electricity- we would have to use little ‘National’ washing tub, or ‘diaper machine’ as my mother called it.

The pale yellow plastic washing tub is a simple device that is designed to hold a few liters of water and to swish around said water with a few articles of clothing tossed in and some detergent. Next, clothes have to be removed from soapy water and rinsed separately in clean water, then hung to dry. While it conveniently uses less water than standard washing machine, there is also a risk factor involved- a sock or undershirt is often sacrificed to little plastic blade that swishes around water and clothes.

We spent some of yesterday and a good portion of today washing clothes, rinsing them and speculating on how our ancestors fared without washing machines and water pumps.