Between the years of 2003 and 2005, 366 police officers have died serving their country in the line of duty. Between 2004 and 2005, there were 37 instances of homicide deaths in schools across our country. Hundred of firemen have lost their lives fighting fires and helping their neighbors in the past three years. Security officers die in the line of duty. Public officials are gunned down, their families murdered, their lives ended prematurely. Between 2001 and 2002, there were 38,726 homicides or legal intervention injuries that led to the death of those involved. These are cold hard facts, and they are happening right now, here in our own country.

Far away, across the Atlantic Ocean, we are faced with more statistics like these. Since the beginning of the war in Iraq, on March 20, 2003, over 1,700 American troops have lost their lives, serving their country, protecting our freedom, saving lives. It is a sad thing for all involved, their friends, their families, their co-workers. With each death, a void is created not only in our world, but in our hearts and in our spirits.

Some people out there say that the only solution to this problem is to bring them home. They feel that we need to stop whatever we are doing in Iraq, give up on this effort that we started and not stop even once to look over our shoulders at the devastation that we