[Victoria Delsoul]

Now we appear to be attempting nation building in Iraq before we have defeated the military. This is insane. OUR young men are dying because of Bush's nice guy methods. History has given us ample precedent on how to rebuild a nation. ie Japan and Germany. We did not bring down the evil empire of the USSR by getting them to trust us. We crushed them economically.

I have lost all faith in George W Bush. I do not believe he knows what he is doing nor do his advisors. Evidently he is allowing bureaucrats of the same stripe who led us into the historically catastrophic swamp of Viet Nam to make his policy.

I'm sorry you feel that way, Mercy. Of course there are big difference between Germany - Japan after WWII and Iraq.

Let's not forget that the occupation of Germany took six years, and there was no resistance in Germany or Japan after their surrender. Germany and Japan recognized and accepted defeat. Their government and military were disseminated. There were curfews in place and people weren't armed. German western culture allowed for a smooth transition to democracy, and it allowed the allied forces such as the US, England, Soviet Union and France to rebuild Germany.

[mercy]

****Let's not forget that the occupation of Germany took six years, and there was no resistance in Germany or Japan after their surrender. Germany and Japan recognized and accepted defeat. Their government and military were disseminated. There were curfews in place and people weren't armed. German western culture allowed for a smooth transition to democracy, and it allowed the allied forces such as the US, England, Soviet Union and France to rebuild Germany.****

Well yes! That's my point. Surely you see it. Establishing democracy in Iraq while the country is full of armed men and caches of weapons is impossible. First pacification, and that historically has meant the killing of a huge proportion of the fighting age males, removal of all weapons and then nation building. Bush is going about it assbackwards. It's a sure recipe for death and disaster ... for OUR men in uniform. This is unforgivable.