Yes, I agree. But I've always felt Mr. Rumsfeld was being honest with me. He's careful to qualify his promises, and he's very realistic about the downside of his strategies. I also feel that President Bush has been honest with me. I was expecting many more American troops to die in this war. And I still believe that many more casualties to suicide bombings are possible. It's just that I've accepted that as the price we need to pay for standing up to terrorism driven by pan-arab nationalism.
One thing I think none of us are discussing enough is the possibility of massive American casualties here at home in a terrorist attack on an urban center -- regardless of what we do or don't do in any given sphere of our influence.
We need to decide that we're ready to sacrifice for what we believe, and then do everything we can to make sure that we don't have to. That's my conviction, anyway. I hope it makes sense to you when you think about it, too.
Yeah, you know - funny you should mention that; I've been getting the impression that the Pope is Catholic, too...