American Indian is one bit that didn't sneak into my gene pool.

< b > Sorry about the cowboy crack. I did not mean to offend.< /b >

forgetaboutit

< b > I was specifically speaking to the tendency around here to deliberately be frightening and reveling in anything in the news that sounds like we are going to get some revenge.< /b >

Some of us need the revenge, apologies to those that don't.

< b > It's a good idea to scare the Taliban into giving us what we want, without loss of life (if this is possible).< /b >

Yes

< b > It is a very bad idea to destabilize the government in Pakistan by convincing their citizens that Americans are coming to eat their (or their neighbor's) babies. It's not a good idea for Afganis to get that idea either. Or to cause harm to Indonesia's fragile democracy.</ b >

The only way we could have avoided further destabilizing Pakistan is to request nothing. Their government is inherently unstable because it was not chosen by the people. They will understand us and trust us at least as much when this is over. (assuming we don't actually eat their babies)

< b > It's not a good idea to scare our potential allies into thinking we are trying to pull them along with us into a war of occupation that will last till eternity. < /b >

I don't think any of our allies that could meet that requirement have any fear of us. They are more likely to have contempt for us because we have never been a threat to them. As far as eternity is concerned that is a long time but whatever it takes will do.

< b > Or to let the rest of the world think that Americans are so arrogant that we think we are capable of dispensing infinite anything.</ b >

It is only a name. Unfortunately, it is our fate to be considered arrogant for various reasons some our fault some not.

< b > There are huge political ramifications that we need to keep sight of. We are ultimately going to have to live with all of the things that our actions cause. My definition of the word "cowboy" in this context means someone who doesn't worry much about what his actions will ultimately cause to happen.< /b >

We can worry or we can act and worry a little as we go. The terrorists started this in motion. Know this, there is nothing that worries me more than losing this war and there is no limit to what I am willing to sacrifice to win, NO LIMIT. If that makes me a cowboy, so be it. I guess my mama failed me.

< b > I hate the idea of being unsupportive of the administration at this time, so I have kept silent about one sour note that bothered me Tuesday. But it's appropriate to bring up in this discussion:

When it was said that an attack on America was tantamount to an attack on liberty itself. That's kind of a paranoid statement. We are certainly not a Platonic ideal anything. We are just a country that got clobbered by a dastardly, cowardly (Mahr's point, notwithstanding) attack.< /b >

I fail to understand your chagrin. Liberty does not exist in America only and I am sure that other free nations were included in the thought. Remember, there is such a thing as required rhetoric in times like this.