Bringing closure to my nightmare

FOR the first time in five years I can say that Christmas was almost pleasurable — and I have to give all the credit for that to US President Barack Obama.

For the first time since the death of my son Matthew, from injuries received in Iraq, did I find myself not dwelling on the killing and dying in that land. Perhaps the end of that disastrous war will finally bring closure to my nightmare. Obama himself said that it was easier to start a war than to end one. The pain and loss of my only son will never end but maybe I now can see the way forward.

Over that five-year period I have come to believe that the US is the greatest force on the earth to do good. But sadly it is also the greatest force to do wrong. The man sitting in the Oval Office has the ability to decide which way the country will go.