Lindy, there's no way I can explain what's going on to your satisfaction. As far as thought processes go, we are in different time zones.

There is a war going on whether or not you like it, and it's against Islamic fundamentalism.

Look around.

Have you seen how the Palestinians are handling the transfer of power? Mostly by gunfire and lethal threats to those Palestinian leaders who might stray off the path of the extermination of Israel. Have you been watching the situation in Iran? In Syria? Yemen? Do you track what's going on in some nations in Africa? How about Malaysia? How about the mosque that may be just a few miles from where you live? Are you aware of how much of the Iraqi insurgency is imported?

Whether it works or not, the ambitious goal has been set to neutralize the sources of terrorism by neutralizing and democratizing the totalitarian systems where they thrive. At least it's a better plan than genocide, or surrender.

Damn sure the Islamists aren't going to just go away if we ignore them. You have to remember that when we were attacked on 9/11, there were no troops at all in Afghanistan or Iraq, and America was not killing Muslims anywhere.

I'm dead serious when I raise the question, "which side do you want to win." Not which side do you think is moral, or which side you think acts more barbaric. Just which side you want to win.

It infuriates a lot of people, especially those for whom making such stark choices is considered to be a sign of limited mentality, and who prefer to live in the fog of nuance, taking no stand, while still being able to condemn and judge with no resulting consequence of their choices.

The Islamic fundamentalists stand for everything that used to appall the leftists and liberals. Hatred of minorities. Hatred of gays. Religion superior over secular laws. Enslavement of women. Yet over the past couple of years they march side by side in protests. Why?

On one side we have a Marine who, after personal experience with booby-trapped bodies and other atrocities, may have panicked. On the other side we have men who murder CARE workers, saw off heads, use holy sites as military fortresses, and use every humanitarian impulse of our American military as a lethal weapon against us. I'm sorry if this shows me to be of limited mentality, but I'm going to cut the Marine some slack first.

And yeah, it pissed me off a bit when people leaped on this story like hungry dogs to show yet another example of how evil Americans were.

This war, like the Cold War, is going to be fought and won, and in spite of most of the same people, parties, and other groups on the Left dragging their feet and obstructing the road to victory every step of the way.

Just think, some years down the road, when most of the crap is over, they will all be able to work on erasing George W. Bush from the democratization of the Middle East just like they erased Reagan's role in the fall of the Iron Curtain.