Does anyone remember the Persian Gulf War? I don't mean the people who were adults at the time, but the people like me who were in second grade. I remember my teacher's friend, who was stationed over there, sending our class lots of stuff from Iraq at the time. At home, I have a picture from the local newspaper of a couple of my classmates posing with the stuff, one of them wearing that headdress that the male royals in Saudi Arabia wear (only this one was a red-and-white checkered fabric). There was money with Saddam Hussein's face on it, I think, and I'm pretty sure he sent us some of the food. It was fascinating stuff.

I remember also that our teacher spearheaded a school rally of sorts toward what must have been the end of the conflict, as it's purpose was to meet her friend in person. My class marched in singing "I'm Proud to Be an American" and carrying a flag. I still remember the words, and it gets stuck in my head sometimes. Of course, I had no idea what the war was about, just that Iraq (and I didn't know quite where that was -- just "overseas") had invaded Kuwait (I believe I thought something along the lines of, "Who cares if they take such a stupid little country? I've never heard of it!"). I thought "Saddam" was Saddam Hussein's title as ruler -- Arabic for "king" or something.

Here's something I just don't understand: "Bush tells UN council to display 'backbone.'" Irony, irony, irony.