[Hemingway's Ghost]

This was the best part of Ollie's piece:

As we near the fourth anniversary of Sept. 11, it's important to remember that events make dates important, not the other way around.

What I sense from reading pieces about the war in Iraq is a maddening sense of American leadership being afraid to press its might, and win this war in a manner we would win it if this were northern Europe in the 1940s. Rather, we seem hell-bent on prosecuting the war in such a manner that keeps other, everyday life as close to "peacetime" as possible. Though I'm not a Vietnam veteran, I've read all I can on the subject, and in my opinion, that's where the similarities between Iraq and Vietnam lie: our desire to fight and yet not fight at the same time.

Long and short of it? If Iraq is worth the blood of one American soldier, we should prosecute the war in the most brutal, violent way possible in order to win it and get on to the next theater as soon as possible.

[mortal19440]

I love it when these Vietnam experts like Hagel and McCain talk strategy and war planning. They were so far down the food chain when they were in Vietnam that they only did what they were ordered to do. When I was there as a Ltjg flying planes I never received a call from the President or any Admirals asking me what my take was on the conduct of the war and neither did Hagel or McCain. These two clowns didn't know anything about foreign policy or strategy then and they sure as hell don't know any more now. I wish they would STFU and let real warriors handle the situation.