After seeing some recent TV news of the Iraq war, my 8-year-old daughter asked me why our soldiers are dying over there. As I considered an answer, I thought of the 3,800 brave soldiers, sailors, and airmen killed and the 28,000 wounded in Iraq thus far. If the United States had maintained focus on very real terrorist threats and very real WMD concerns and had instead gone into Pakistan to stop A.Q. Khan from sharing nuclear weapons secrets with rogue nation-states like North Korea, Iran, and Libya; and went on to destroy Pakistani safe havens for the Taliban and Al-Qaeda where these two groups are now rebuilding their strength, my answer to her would be clear-cut. If the U.S. had instead focused on Saudi Arabia, homeland to the 9/11 highjackers, and disrupted financial supporters of terrorists like Saudi national Yassin al-Qadi, who was one of Osama bin Laden's primary sponsors, and gone after those Saudis supporting the Sunni terrorists who largely make up the Iraqi insurgency and who are also largely responsible for most of the deaths of our troops in Iraq; my answer to my 8-year-old would be straightforward.

At a recent hearing, Republican Sen. John Warner of Virginia asked Gen. David Petraeus, the commanding general of Multi-National Force-Iraq, "Does the Iraq war make America safer?" The general's answer was "I don't know, actually." New York Times columnist David Brooks recently asked Defense Secretary Robert Gates if the Iraq war was worth it. Gates' response was, "If I'd known then what I know now, would I have done the same? I think the answer is, 'I don't know.'"

The hard truth is that I cannot explain to my daughter what the noble and just cause is that our troops are fighting and dying for in Iraq. As hard as it is for me to answer her question, I cannot fathom how those tens of thousands of families are answering similar questions of loved ones who have been directly affected by the tragedies of this war. What does one say to a parent whose son or daughter came home from this war missing an arm or a leg? What does one say to family members of a returning veteran who has significant emotional concerns? What does one say to a little girl or boy who lost a parent to the war? As a parent I will be sure that my three children know that we will honor all those who have served and fallen in this tragic war.

When the commanding general in Iraq cannot determine that the Iraq war is making America safer and the Secretary of Defense doesn't know if the war is worth fighting, it is clear that President Bush owes an explanation to those families who made the ultimate sacrifice as to why their loss was worth the cost.

BRIAN GEOGHEGAN lives in North Attleboro.