I'm very willing to admit that there are nations in this world whose militaries would leave us in the dust, as far as truly, seriously wanting to kill an adversary -- any adversary. I won’t apologize for that. It’s just that we really can't help our compassionate outlook on life.

Well, the planet’s war technologies were designed to function without compassion. A bullet kills, and it really doesn't care about who is squeezing the trigger and who, or what, the target of choice happens to be. the result remains death.

Today, America's enemies are ground-pounding killers, and we are the birds who soar above them. Technology gives the battleground a level terrain upon which to work, and we do very well. We have the advantage. It's a cakewalk. We'll have our casualties, sure. We'll make our errors. It’s possible we may even have catastrophic casualties due to catastrophic errors. But we will be victorious. There is simply no other way the West could survive. The Muslim extremists of the world simply must be killed.

Now, there are those out there who would argue that we are not on the ground, staring the enemy in the eye when we twist the knife, or swing the garrote, thus snuffing the light of life from our victims, but that's okay. The "romance" of combat belongs in books and movies of fiction. The facts of battle and survival remain paramount for victory. A fair fight is to be found in the ring, or a some duelist’s “field of honor”. War is hell, and that's how it's to be fought. Give an enemy an even shot at killing you -- and he eventually will. The combatant you’re victorious over today is not the same combatant you’ll meet tomorrow.

To the technologist goes the victory, and we are there.

On a brighter note, building up our forces along the Iraqi border and dropping leaflets might well result in Hussein’s complete capitulation. Perhaps even sparking an in-house coup against him and his regime.

Dan