To give MY answer to your question, my opinions, not defending a thesis, I believe the American public will support getting it done, however (short of nukes) and getting out!! I don't think the American public would or should support sort of half-measures, pussyfooting around kinds of stuff.

And, I still believe that Afghanistan is a tough place to get out of. Easy to get into. It may be different with B-52s, but no one has ever beat 'em on their own territory.

I think late last week Rumsfeld said he was going to declare victory over the weekend and largely break off the Gardez stuff as being unwinnable without more casualties than they thought the public would tolerate. I think the public would tolerate more casualties if they thought the casualties were buying something.

And, if there are 10,000 dead Americans in Afghanistan, and still al Qeada and Taliban forces ambushing the isolated outpost, I think Americans would get discouraged. Given the terrain, tribal alliances and history, I believe that is more than possible. I don't know how you would ever "pacify" that country short of "relocating" every darned last one.

Arf