[Calpernia]

>>>>We should have just demolished the tyrants and let the people fend for themselves and rebuild however, whichever way they wanted

Now THAT would be more like Vietnam.

[kcar]

I'm not saying we should have retreated in Kerryescque manner, left friends to die, but that we should have been less specifically and less expensively reconstructive. Provided a bridge over time for people to decide whether they want to risk fighting for democracy or not. There's a fine line there. For it to be successful it must be desired and fought for. If they go for it it's in our long-term interests to help them. But if it is merely handed over they won't cherish it or die for it, but we will, needlessly.

At any rate, it's still well within our rights to take exception to Bush's notion that Islam is anything but a horrible ideology of venomous hate that seeks to subjugate and destroy anyone it perceives as weak.