I can't help wondering why there's so much doom and gloom about the war in Iraq.  You do realize that the resistance movements in Iraq are basically ineffective.  They don't imperil our major objectives, they can't stop the formation of a democratic government, and they aren't interfering with the creation of Iraqi military and police.  Indeed, the terrorist activity in Iraq is actually helping us, by giving the Iraqis a common cause to rally against.  The one thing that might bring the different factions of the Iraq nation together is the clear knowledge that they are surrounded by enemies.  (A point that gets hammered home every time a Syrian made car bomb detonates in a village market)

We could triple the number of troops in Iraq today, and still not make a significant difference in the number of terrorist attacks that occur on a monthly basis.  That issue is going to have to be dealt with by the Iraqis themselves.  On the other hand, how many troops does it take to train up a military and police force from scratch.  I think that we've deployed every available asset to make that happen as quickly as possible.  (Training officers and sergeants takes years and there's just no getting around that.)

Our involvement in Vietnam lasted from 1965 to 1972 (actually longer if you count the presence of advisors).  That's 7 years, we've been in Iraq now for little more then 2 years, (and we didn't start with a friendly government).   We seem to be in better shape in Iraq today, then we ever were in Vietnam (if anyone wants to dispute this, I'll be happy to listen).

So, with events in Iraq going better then in any other occupation the United States has ever participated in, I'm really hesitant to advocate that we do anything different then what we're doing now.  Bush and his team are smart, knowledgeable professionals, this is why we elected them.  Lets give'em at least another year and see where we are at then. 

Steven W Dugger    8 25 05