Honest respect

Veteran's Day (yesterday). On TV, every single news program showed the parades to honor the military forces of the country. The most striking, and touching, was the one set up in Santa Monica, by the Pier. A large number of white crosses spread out on the sand, each with a little candle in front of it, each with a name for every soldier fallen in the war.
November 12 (today). Italy remembers the 19 soldiers fallen in Nassiriya. The President and a number of politicians pay their respects to the families of the fallen soldiers.
Two countries, the same empty rhetoric: they did not die in vain, their sacrifice helped the peace process, they will be remembered, they should be honored.
Really? Seriously? They died under false pretenses, the peace process is still light years away, terrorism is anything but defeated (Amman, anyone?), they will be remembered, but they have been dishonored. Their pledge of allegiance to their country has been dishonored.
For people who claim to be so religious (on BOTH sides of the conflict, I'm not favoring anybody here), it is quite ironic to boldly embark in such a killing spree... Isn't DO NOT KILL one of the common precepts to every religion?
Probably I am so sensitive to this subject because I know people in the military (Air Force, Navy and Army); I know why they enlisted, I know what their dream was, AND THIS IS NOT IT. I met a girl whose older brother was on one of the towers in New York; she had every reason to be enraged, but she DID NOT want the war. Nor did her family.
Now that elections are approaching (April 9, 2206) and he knows he's going to lose, the Italian Prime Minister backtracks on his previous statements: now he says he tried to tell Bush (my friend George, he calls him) that the war was wrong, that it was not the right way to go, but it was all George's fault because he wouldn't listen. Silvio tried to tell him, tried to have the UN tell him (please...), tried to work things out between George and Saddam with the help of Qaddafi (now that looks like a fun gathering), but George just wouldn't give a crap about what Silvio was saying - but wasn't Silvio Bush's best friend??? (I guess George just prefers Tony... He's taller, and definitely speaks better English.) Anyway, Berlusconi HAD to go on with the plan, so that everybody would recognize Italy's status as a leading country in the world.
Really? Seriously? Our country is as big as an ant's spit, how much do you really think we can count? Our economy is collapsing, we're the jesters of Europe, people care about us just because of food and art, and all thanks to him. April 9 is coming up, it's only 5 months away, so I guess he's willing to try everything, especially now that his plan of keeping the masses quiet is not quite working out as expected. People have been dozing off for the past two years, but I guess now there are more and more groups speaking up, wanting to know the truth, and not willing to be treated as idiots anymore. About time.
I just want to see all those young men and women, from the US and any other country that sent military personnel to die, be honored as they deserve: someone saying I AM SORRY I LIED TO YOU. War is NEVER the answer.
And then resign from office.
Millions of anthropology books affirm that humans are superior to animals because their (our?) brain is bigger and because humans are able to speak and be rational. I'm not so sure about that...