I recently heard a foreign correspondent answer the question, "are we winning in Afghanistan". His answer (paraphrased) was as follows: The Afghan people have food and water that was not available before. There is electrical power where there was none before. Everyday I see smiling faces and hundreds of children going to school. There are still problems but if this isn't a sign we are winning, what is?

Did you support our intervention in Afghanistan? I don't recall.

Any reasonable person would agree that, at least, the Afghans are better off than they were a year ago.

If the US goes to Iraq and deposes Sadaam with a minimum of civilian casualties and improves the quality of life in Iraq as we have in Afghanistan and furthermore the destablizing that you fear does not come to pass, would you then concede that you were wrong?

I can assure you that if the opposite happens, I would acknowledge my mistake without trying to find victory in the face of defeat.

You see, each of us has an opinion and each opinion has the potential of costing thousands of innocent lives. The ability to learn from our mistakes is as important as which side of a question we choose.