You asked me to paint a picture. I did.

Your support of the war in Afghanistan wasn't the issue. It wasn't anywhere close to the issue. I have no idea why you're bringing it up.

Our ability to deal with Iran was the issue. The thesis that we would have a huge surplus force to deal with Iran if we had not invaded Iraq makes two assumptions:

One, that anyone would think invading Iran with a ground force was a good idea.

Two, that we had no more forces in Afghanistan than we do right now, which, in the absence of a war in Iraq, is the only way we would have surplus forces at all. Now, if we had put all the troops into Afghanistan that liberals think we should have to do the job right, including the rebuilding--most say the number of troops in Afghanistan is woefully insufficient--then most of our troops would still be tied up, and we would be in the same situation anyway. Got it?

No difference.

It would be wonderful if killing Osama would cause al Qaeda and all the other terror organizations across the planet to disappear. Fact is, not much would be different right now if Osama had been killed on the first day of the Afghanistan war, any more than Saddam's capture caused the insurgency to evaporate.

Right now, the main thing is to not bail out and give the terrorists the greatest victory they could ever have. Look how they milked the first Fallujah engagement. If we leave Iraq with anything less than a perceived victory, they will come right after us.

If the Democrats take charge, they will flee crawling on their bellies within months, if not weeks. They have put forth no other options. None.