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"IMHO, the fatal mistake the Bush administration made, was the hope-against-hope decision to try to transform the Middle East through democracy."

I agree that the prospect for transforming the political landscape in the M.E. through democratization was always a long shot. However, it had to be tried. History would have judged us poorly had we not made the attempt.

This war will go on, and it will come here once again - just as it did in 1993 and 2001 - only the next time it will be nuclear. These fanatics will never stop until they, or we, are exterminated. That is the trajectory we are on.

I do not regret that we took a shot at liberalizing the culture there. However, if this effort has truly failed, as our esteemed leaders think it now has, we must gird ourselves for the next phase, which IMO will be the most destructive that the world has yet seen.

True, true. I don't see it as the United States failing. What the H did we fail at anyway? We toppled Hussein, killed his evil progeny, and gave the Iraqi people a shot at governing themselves.

I see it as the last chance to avoid massive death and destruction on both sides. Iraq was the best place to attempt democratization. Why the "democrats" fail to grasp this is beyond irony and is a bitter shame upon them.

If the Iraqi leadership and people don't pick up the ball and run with it, it's a failure that belongs to Iraq.