I have had the privilige of meeting and talking to Terry Waite on the campus of the University of Central Florida.

What he endured was no joke, and not everyone could have survived the abuse and confinement and isolation that man did.

You blithely state, "The war in Afghanistan is a war. It's not a police operation. The people were fighting are still fighting."

No, actually it is NOT a war. Articles of war have not been declared. Your misuse of the language does not create a separate reality for anyone other than yourself.

"Until such time as these people stop fighting and desire peace with us, we are still at war."

I am sorry that any educated American would like to usurp the powers granted to congress, such as you advocate.

"Now, it is possible to think that we aren't at war,"

"...... but we are cowboys at heart, and we want to respect the wishes of even these hopelessly stupid twits. "

Apparently you have in mind "Mid-night Cowboy?" Speak for your self, and drop the collective "we."

Publius