A young veteran in California is being criticized for his view of the 13 months he spent serving in Iraq.

On the back windshield of his Nissan Frontier pickup, Sgt. Mathew Gonzalez has the words "Lord please forgive me; I have committed sins for our freedom," and depicts a soldier kneeling in prayer.

The young man says he has received both positive and negative feedback on his feelings about the war. He doesn't feel good about what he had to do while he was there, but, he said, if he is called, he will go back again.

According to the CNN report, Sgt. Gonzalez was one of the Army Rangers responsible for the capture of Saddam Hussein. He is a hero, just like every other soldier who has served in Iraq; he was called to duty and performed that duty with honor.

And now he is being condemned for the very thing that our soldiers are supposedly fighting for, one of America's First Amendment Rights, one of the rights that are being fought and died for on the streets of Iraq -- the freedom of speech.

Sgt. Gonzalez is not condemning his fellow soldiers, he is simply stating his own convictions based on his religious beliefs and because of that, war supporters who have no idea what this young man has gone through are holding him in contempt.

A radio talk-show host in California expressed his disdain for the young man's expression. Some may not see the irony in that, but consider that in some countries, American radio talk-show hosts, television commentators and newspaper col-umnists at the very least would be out of a job -- at worst, we'd be dead.

Personally I admire this young soldier. He had the nerve to do something that most of us only talk about during social hour or over the water cooler. He stood up for his convictions and made his statement. It's too bad the rest of us, including our "leaders" in Washington couldn't do the same thing.

America doesn't need a non-binding resolution. Our leaders need to listen to what their constituents are asking for and act accordingly. According to a USA Today/Gallup Poll conducted March 2-4, 59 percent of those polled believe the U.S. made a mistake going to war in Iraq. Thirty-nine percent believe the U.S. made the right decision and two percent were unsure. The same poll shows that 46 percent of American's believe that the U.S. cannot win this war, 28 percent believe we will definitely or probably win and 20 percent believe that we can win, but probably won't. In another poll conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International, 67 percent of those polled disapprove of the way President Bush is handling the situation in Iraq.

Personally -- and I know I can say this without fear of going to jail, because of soldiers like Sgt. Mathew Gonzalez -- I agree with those 67 percent. It is time to make some changes. We tried in 2006, and got a non-binding resolution out of Washington. We'll have another chance in 2008 and maybe then we can get a little bit more than a few pieces of paper out of the nation's capital.