Name one, in all of human history.

The Emperor in Japan surrendered in the face of overwhelming destruction. Germany was defeated by the virtual annihilation of Europe. Try and tell me how Douglas MacArthur would have handled a Fallujah-type situation if one had developed in Japan.

Vietnam was the first time we tried to fight a war half-way. How'd that go? Iraq and Afghanistan are the current attempts. If it works, it will be a frigging miracle, especially since there are so many on our own side who don't want it to work.

I'm not supporting turning ANY nation into "glass." But at least recognize that the vast majority of our troops are trying to fight as humanely as possible, and their only reward is gleeful body counts of dead Americans.

We are fighting against an enemy so far on the other end of the "humane" scale that it can't even be seen from here. An enemy that fights in civilian clothing, uses churches, schools, and hospitals as fire bases, hides in civilian populations, uses ambulances as bomb cars, feeds false information to an eager press, routinely specifically targets non-combatants, and basically has busted every single part of the Geneva Conventions on warfare into fine powder and ground them into the dust.

We have endured casualties on our side that would never have happened in a Bosnia-style "air war," because we're on the ground, trying not to damage people or property that aren't part of the enemy.

In return, far too many of the Glorious Enlightened in America have condemned our own side while excusing the atrocities of our enemies with the famous gag-incuding "higher standard" excuse.

Wait for it. The Haditha incident report will be released in a month or two, but these Marines have already been tried and convicted in the media. Whereas stories of our military doing good works are ignored, this story will be widely distributed, picked up by enthusiastic Arab media, and pounded into the brains of half the world while the rebuilding of Iraq and Americans dying to save Iraqi civilians remains a story found only in local small-town newspapers.

So it goes.