[Dr. Frank fan]

[we are trying to help bring a reasonably sane, consensual government to a people that has never seen one.] The same statement applies to WWII Japan.

Ok. So Iraq's taking longer. And? Is there a point in there somewhere?

One difference between 2003 Iraq and the 1945 Japan we had found ourselves with, was that two of Japan's cities had been nuked, I believe. So, cutting to the chase, do I take you, in these few comments, to be essentially asking why we don't just nuke some Iraqi cities? Which ones?

[it's the inexplicable and needless impatience] Needless perhaps, but not at all inexplicable. The idea of a "return to normalcy" is a part of our national character.

But that's just it: who of us, and in particular who of the whiners, every really left normalcy? There are the military people doing the actual work, of course (but most of them wish to persist). But for the rest of us? I dare say that for 99% of the people who whine and gripe, the only difference between normalcy and now is that now, they repeatedly get on the internet and whine about how Iraq's not going fast enough and how tired they are of it and how they want to get back to normalcy.

That's why I find it inexplicable. Most of the impatient people I'm referring to may as well be complaining about being tired of a plotline on "Desperate Housewives", for all any of this has actually affected their lives.

[BubbaTheRocketScientist]

One difference between 2003 Iraq and the 1945 Japan we had found ourselves with, was that two of Japan's cities had been nuked, I believe. So, cutting to the chase, do I take you, in these few comments, to be essentially asking why we don't just nuke some Iraqi cities? Which ones?

Given current policy, use of nuclear weapons would be counterproductive. The point I'm getting at is that our "conquest" was far to passively executed. Certainly there were "innocent Japanese" and "innocent Germans" who disagreed, and some that actively fought against, those tyrannical regimes. However, that didn't stop us from visiting wholesale destruction on their cities and infrastructure until they ALL lost the will to fight.

But that's just it: who of us, and in particular who of the whiners, every really left normalcy?

Certainly the leftists and most Democrats never did leave their state of normalcy - most of them still refuse to admit that the War on Terror is anything other than a police problem.

Speaking for myself, I want to win, not only in Iraq but in all of the other places we must inevitably fight, as quickly as possible using any means necessary. Fighting a war with what appear to be half-measures is not a strategy for success.

Most of the impatient people I'm referring to

How do we set standards for how long it should take? I look at past wars, and judge based on their outcomes. Given the enormous advantage in military resources we have over our enemies, I don't just see why it is reasonable to expect a ten or fifteen or twenty year war.