I wonder how many of the150,000 young men there would find themselves in less than honorable life threatening conditions if they are not in the millitary, but in a closed society that bombed and then abandoned people in tyranny. Perhaps more than one a day???
Latest estimates are that this rebuilding and occupation costs us 50billion a year. At worst, that's the cost of delaying another 9/11 (until we give up and leave), there's a good chance that we're preventing it (or something worse). How many years of occupational/rebuilding would it take to equal the cost of 9/11? 10 years? 20 years?
Paul Bremer says rebuilding is on schedule. Rumsfeld says attacks are the work of trained paramilitaries in a limited area. A recent poll showed that 2/3 of Iraqs wanted us there. Only 11% wanted us out right now.
Until the opponents of this war draft a realistic alternative to what we're doing, they simply look like the same quitters and ultra-nationalistic crew that pulled us out of Vietnam, and killed tens of thousands of our allies there. They have no plan, no promise, no hope. Just pull out the troops and betray those that are partnering with us for their lives, leaving them to the mercy of Saddam loyalists and Islamic fascists.