I'm all for anti-war protests, but that woman just rubs me the wrong way. The fact that her son was a volunteer for the army and that she didn't care until AFTER he died makes me question her reason for championing the cause. If she'd protested BEFORE he'd been killed, then I wouldn't mind what she's doing at all, but I've not heard anything of that. If I'm wrong, you are all free to correct me.

And as far as the permanent military presence, I have it on very good authority (i.e. a friend of mine who served and actually saw the bases being constructed) that we are making many fully-equipped military bases in Iraq, which implies a level of permanancy.