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It is my understanding that there is a "sandstorm season" in the Middle East, just as there was a "monsoon season" in SE Asia. Six months ago, the sandstorm season had not yet arrived. We decided that international manners superceded the safety of US citizens and went to the UN to beg for permission to defend ourselves.

Thanks for the explanation. Having a Constitution that places the civilian authority over the military, such as a constitutional representative republic must have, can produce problems for the military. Unfortunately, that has often been the case. We saw it have disastrous results in Vietnam. It is especially bad when the political leaders are reading polls and listening to political advisors more than to military advisors or they are listening to military advisors who themselves have become politicians rather than warriors. Being more concerned with selfish motives for personal advantage than for the lives of our brave defenders and, over the long range good for our country, is what separates the politicians from true leaders. That is why character counts. Our most recent examples of such selfish politicains have been LBJ, Jimmy Carter, and of course Bill Clinton.

However, there are times when international political realities must be considered. That is the basic purpose of our State Department, to deal with those political considerations. When trying to accommodate the goals of other countries while accomplishing our own, sometimes leads to strange decisions and even stranger bedfellows. In the present situation, I think Bush and the entire administration pretty well knew what they were going to do all along but the significance of the international political changes and realignments that were likely to be brought about demanded that we go the extra mile to allow some others, France, Germany, Russia, China, et al., to reevaluated their positions. It also provided us with the opportunity to let the UN shoot intself in the foot as well as to let all nations "lay their cards on the table." This helped sharpen the kines for what needs to be done in the future.

I think Bush is less influenced by public opinion that any politician we have had in a long time. I also think it wise he went the extra mile diplomatically even if I would have preferred he tell our opponents to shove it. He will probably also be more lenient on France, Germany, Russia, and China than I prefer after it is all over. However, to blame particular battlefield outcomes on the delay is strictly conjecture without logical basis. The vagaries of battle are such that things like a wrong turn could, and do, happen all the time. It should also be remembered that while the negotiations in the UN were going on we were still going about implementing our battle plan. We had large numbers of troops, equipment, and supplies to move half way across the world. That takes time. This was accomplished in less time than Desert Storm, of course we sent only half as much, and had to be done regardless of diplomatic considerations. The results have been and will continue to be outstanding.

An ancillary benefit is that we will now have troops stationed in an area that will be a potential powder keg for years to come. Our actions and our presence will also have a tremendous positive effect on the surrounding countries.

All has worked so well that I wouldn't even take note of all the "what ifs" we can dream up.

How would you know what happened on the bridge? I’m holding an incident report in my hands.

There was most definitely a sandstorm that prohibited the crew’s disappearance from being announced.