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"If war deaths were reported the way auto accident deaths are -- only on the local news -- and auto deaths were all reported above the fold, would Americans conclude that auto “casualties are unacceptable”? After all, about 40,000 Americans are killed every year on the highways."

I think it is probably a mistake to characterize what is happening in Iraq as a war. It is an occupation, and it is still new.

In time people will get used to it. The casualties will be buried on the back page and won't even rate a mention except on slow news days. Is that what you want?

If the draft is reinstated, however, then you can expect negative coverage 24/7. Unless Bush can get the troops out quickly, this looks like it might be even less popular than Vietnam.

At least the South Vietnamese were on our side then. I think it is beginning to dawn on people that the Iraqis, with the exception of the Kurds, hate America.

However, I think most people will forget about it like they have forgotten about Kosovo and Bosnia, unless the draft is re-instituted.

Kerry and other numbskulls claim that Bush "has no exit plan." As I've written previously, the final result, or the "exit plan," is clear to anyone who's bothered to read the histories of Japan and Germany after WW II.

The Emperor and Japanese culture keep that from being a close comparison. Germany, on the other hand, fits well. It took us four years to build up to a funtioning national government, elected under a constitution. We are rushing that process in Iraq, largely because the press is bone ignorant of history and is not reporting the historical patterns that were successful.

The 30 June "hand-over" will be to a token government in which all "security" decisions remain firmly in the hands of the US Military for the duration. That is EXACTLY what the US did in both Germany and Japan.

We no more need a reinstituted draft to settle the Iraqi hash, then we did to settle the German hash. History makes all this plain. But reporters don't read history, so they write and publish deceptive twaddle. Don't fall for it.

John / Billybob