Who cares! We are where we are and it does not matter who dropped us into
it or why.

I was vehemently opposed to this action from the beginning when the response
of many was to shout down anyone who questioned the sensibility of such
things as "unpatriotic" and "troop killer".

Now that we in this box, I firmly disagree with Cindy Sheehan although I
sympathize with her feelings.

We picked a fight that we cannot now afford to walk away from. To declare
victory and go home will simply prove to jihaddists that America IS a paper
tiger. This is not to mention the impact such a move would have on China,
North Korea, Iran, Zimbabwe, Venezuela, etc. To allow such a thing will
bring us a world of worry that makes the IRA London campaign look like a kid
with a couple firecrackers.

In Vietnam we could pull off such a trick because the Vietnamese strategic
goal was to drive us out of their country. The strategic goal of the
jihaddists is to "bring down" the West. This ain't about a piece of
territory, oil of Israel. Sadly, it appears we are losing ground in
Afghanistan and even Pakistan.

Like it or not, much of US security and influence is derived from the
"appearance of invincibility". Ancient and modern military history
repeatedly show that things go to Hell very quickly once that appearance of
invincibility is pierced. A single US cop is not able to control a crowd of
15 people because he/she has that kind of physical strength. The crowd is
controlled by their belief he/she will either immediately bring in more
resources or that if they attract the cop they will suffer retribution.
This is the appearance of invincibility at work.

It is too bad all the cheerleaders of 2003 thought this was going to be like
a John Wayne movie and now that it has gone on this long they want their
money back. They are sunshine patriots.

Why are all those "patriots" now talking their children and grandchildren
out of joining the military and Reserves? Shame on them! It is as if they
are saying "I was for the war when I thought someone else's kid was going
to fight for" (freeing Iraqis, protecting me against WAD, bringing
Democracy to Iraq, insert your own favorite reason).

Powell had it right when he said "Mr. President, you break it, you own it."
Too bad most Americans did not take the time to consider the potential costs
BEFORE. But we can even less afford to be impulsive again and to run away
from a fight that we literally and figuratively started.

We are simply going to have to leave it to historians 50 years from now to
figure out what was prudent and or necessary. Right now we have a fight for
survival on hands whether or not we consider it of our own making.

Kind of like being dropped out of a helicopter and being told you don't get
picked up until you clear the jungle between here and there. You really
ain't too concerned about the geopolitics or morality of the conflict. You
are focus on doing what is needed to be able to make it to the end.

Oh and by the way, I have talked with my daughter about attending USMA or
USNA; she has been actively recruited by both and given she wants to study
Civil Engineering and Foreign Relations, I think those are excellent places
to start her career. Instead she intends to attend one of those elitist
hotbeds like Princeton or Yale that produced such liberals as Geo. Bush or
Don Rumsfeld. So it goes.

Life is simply more complicated than ideologues (Left, Right or Religionist
(Christian and Taliban)) can conceive.


--
Regards,
Dewey Clark