So why do this in the first place? Frankly, it’s because we have a moral regard for the innocent victims in war and we try (despite periods of suffering) to leave the country better for the long run. Unfortunately, these humanitarian goals (even just delivering food in Somalia) are not consistent with efficient warfare, or minimizing costs of the conflict in terms of dollars or the lives of our brave armed forces.

Ultimately, we need to rethink how things are done. If the war is entered in the interests of our nation, it should be exercised in such a manner consistent with the interests of our nation, and everything else needs to be de-ranked. This means eliminating the post-war nation building. Let the Iraqis (or whomever) figure that out. If they do it on their own (like we did after the American Revolution) they will value freedom a lot more. If the “wrong people” get in power there, yet aren’t a threat to us, that is unfortunate, but not our problem. If they are a threat though, we just need to take them out again and let them start over.

Qadafi (pick a spelling, any spelling) is not our 1st choice as a leader in Lybia, but he has (apparently) stopped sponsoring terrorism that threatens us, so we leave him be. Saddam was treated this way after the ’91 Gulf War; he would have been left alone if he minded himself and abided by his prior surrender agreement. He didn’t and brought today’s result upon himself and his nation.

And please leave your wingnut revisionist history lessons at home. Every adult in the world knows the score in Vietnam and – you embarrass yourself by bringing these fantasy stories into play.

After 20 years of Franco-American alliance fighting in Vietnam and millions of casualties on all sides, it comes down to “peacenicks on the side of the communist north.” If only those darn peaceniks hadn’t been on the side of the communist north, THEN we would have whipped ‘em!

The mistake you armchair warriors make every time here is confusing is confusing “opposition to war” with “taking the side of the communist north.” If you can’t see the difference then there is no hope for you. Note that this is a mistake that many of you have been making for several years with regards to the Iraq situation as well. No, Carruthers, the 70%+ of Americans (and 90%+ of the world population) that wants us out of Iraq aren’t on al Qaeda’s side… We’re on the side of humanity that understands that “war is not glorious – war is bad.” Imagine that.

I’ll add a little bit of extra complexity to that, if you’ll allow me… That is that war always produces unforeseen consequences, over which some all parties involved may completely lose control.

I don’t remember Bush, Cheney, et al raising the spectre of creating an Iran-aligned government in Baghdad fighting a proxy war against al-Qaeda and the Sunni establishment through armed Shiite militias at a cost of $500BB+. Do you?

I was wondering where did you get that picture for the article? It’d make a great desktop wallpaper for sure.