You are talking about the age group that is currently directing our national policy. Doesn't this give you pause at all? These are the same people, only older. To quote the proverb, "There's no fool like an old fool."

I notice the presence of buzzwords. I notice the absence of the one word which describes the character of this generation: zeal. Zealotes find comfort at the antipodes of idealist positions. Be wary of zeal: it makes martyrs.

And politicans shouldn't get our miltary into a situation, then abandon them, because the politicans decided they can't stand the political heat.

I agree with all of this statement. I agree with it even more when one removes the appositional phrase "then abandon them". War is a political tool. It's the tool of last resort. It's a tool that needs to be used over as short a period of time as possible, which means that those who start it need to be ready to insert something else once the military's objectives are achieved. It seems to me I heard our Commander in Chief declare the war over not too long ago. The world -- Iraq especially -- is still waiting for the follow-up.

Military organizations don't make good civilian governments -- the term for that is, I believe, "junta" -- and they aren't governed by the same regulations as a civilian police force either. To place our military in a position for which they were never trained and which conflicts with their core mission because we have no other plan ready, thus placing our soldiers at risk in the midst of an increasingly critical and sometimes hostile civilian population, is also abandonment. We are rapidly squandering what good will we had.

Yes, the American people are responsible. All of us. To suggest that those who oppose the war sit down and shut up is to suggest turning off political dialog. Shutting up is not only unAmerican, it guarantees that the only opinions heard are those who agree with the status quo, thus turning off the great engine of debate and negotiation that generates new ideas and new approaches.

Imagine going to the Contintental Congress and telling them to shut up. Heaven knows enough people tried that with John Adams.

A happy Fourth of July to you, Geoff.

Regards--
Mary Anne