There are a lot of things I expect or hope to happen in the new year. Things I directly affect and can control to some extent. But listing those would be kind of like a resolution or plan. I know how to get most of them done, and I'll work hard to make sure I'm going in the right direction for 2004. But there's one thing I have no control over, and, yet, it colors almost everything I do.

I wish the United States could stop being at war in 2004.

That's my wish. And it's a wish because I don't think it will happen.

Our country has been at war since October, 2001. Over two years of fighting, killing, being killed and listening to excuses and flat out lies about it.

Afghanistan, of course, was the first, and we still haven't finished there. Consequences of that war, which we entered in retribution for the terrorist attacks of 2001, will taint our foreign policy for years. And the initial successes of that war (we drove the Taliban from power) are not turning Afghanistan into a more stable nation. Rather, we destabilized the country.

The power vacuum has been filled by tigers of the same stripe we threw out. Rather than choosing a democracy, Afghanistan looks to be falling back to a Islamic government. As a side note, the poppy fields are once again blooming. Apparently the war on terrorism tolerates drug dealers more than the war on drugs. Neither of these wars, however, are actually doing what we've been told they would.

As a country, we fell hard for the war hammer in 2003.

We were pounded with imminent threats, WMDs, nuclear threats and fears of chemical gases. We were told America had to take out Saddam because he is the worst person in the entire history of the world, and peace in the Middle East can only be achieved if we take him out of power. By force. Peace--by force.

So here we are, about ten months later. Saddam is in an undisclosed prison cell. No WMDs have been found. The nuclear capabilities of Iraq apparently consist of childlike drawings of mushroom clouds. And those chemical weapons our troops were going to run into when they invaded Iraq? They never materialized. But we got Saddam, so everything must be going well, right?

Again, we seemed to have mixed up goals with shadow dancing. As much as most of Iraqis didn't like Saddam, they like us worse. Why? Because Saddam was one of them. We are a conquering force who wants to change everything from the past. We talk about freedoms and say imposing greater restrictions will set people free.

But my biggest concern isn't for the Iraqi people. I'm sorry, but I never believed we invaded Iraq to liberate anyone. So the benefits of taking Saddam from power might accidentally help Iraqis, but mostly it's to help us. Right?

I hate what has happened to this country in the last three years. We are being told (through TV commercials) it's completely fine if some of our civil liberties are taken away, because it will help the war on terrorism. We are being frisked at airports. Our peace of mind is violated by constant calls from the government to "watch out," "be vigilant," and to report any suspicious doings by whoever (even our family), because now the terrorist are our neighbors and friends.

Our holiday season this year was ruined by constant bullshit from the government. They raised the terror alert to orange (did you feel the difference?). They shut down flights to and from France. Our government hijacked the holidays and told us to feel good about it. Take it like a man, so to speak.

I always hearken back to the 80s when I lived near an Air Force base, and knew, if we ever went to nuclear war, I'd be among the first to be vaporized. Somehow we got through that ever constant fear, and the 90s were about not being afraid of the world. I never thought the paranoia would be like when I was a teenager living on the dusty high plains of eastern New Mexico.

Christmas morning, around 7 a.m., air warning sirens went off for about ten seconds. The first thought in my head was, "Oh shit, something happened."

Y'know what? Nothing happened. No planes were hijacked. Nothing got blown up in the US.

I don't feel safer. I feel horrible. Thanks to our government for the fucking Christmas gift. Next year, don't bother. You've done too much already.

Matt Worley isn't always in the holiday spirit, but this is ridiculous.