Do you really think that we can ever truly win that way?

So, how DO we win?

I'm sure it hasn't escaped your notice that all the standard liberal methods for winning hearts and minds over the past decades have not had good results either. How much money have we poured into Palestinian coffers year after year? Did we get any credit from the Islamists for assisting Afghanistan against the Soviets, or stopping the Serbs? Are we Egypt's favorite nation after pumping billions into that country?

Is bin Laden, or one of his clones like Zarqawi, someone who can be negotiated with?

You dismiss Bush talking about Iraq as a front line of the war on terror. Have you ever asked yourself why the al Qaeda terrorists think it's the front line? Why aren't they blowing up troop carriers day after day in Afghanistan, which, unlike Iraq, was a holy Muslim nation before it was invaded? Could there be something more at stake for them than simple occupation?

Why are the insurgents blowing up other Iraqis if they are all about getting Americans out of Iraq? Why are they killing Sunnis now that the Sunnis want to participate in elections?

Our troops are killing and capturing dozens of terrorists and insurgents for every American who falls. In the war on Sadr, the ratio was a hundred to one. This doesn't make many newspapers, because it doesn't say what the newspaper wants you to hear. Broaden your sources. Listen to what the people on the front are saying.

You've already settled on a comfortable meme for the war in Iraq and the war on terror. Unfortunately, the facts don't match up consistently with those assumptions.