I'd like to think that the advisors and people we have over there have a little bit of Chu tsai in them. They can serve as examples, but also to provide direct input from their own experience.

Obviously, Chu Tsai was not alone and others from the old dynasty were around to assist in this refining process.

What I hear from the left are primarily different forms of disengagement with Iraq - theat Iraq was a mistake. From Raoul I hear that it is an American failure and that our enemies no longer fear us because we don't carpet bomb them all to dust.

It's exactly the opposite in my view. The casualties we incur and are willing to incur to spare innocents show our enemies just how strong and fearless we really are. It shows the average Iraqi, that we are willing to take a slug or an explosion and keep going. We have a higher purpose.

Even our soldiers are not the soldiers of yesterday. They act to assist and rebuild as much as they act to destroy or kill and if you think this distinction is lost on Iraqis - think again.

It took Yeh Lu Chu Tsai a lifetime to begin the taming of the Mongols and that is why I grow frustrated when folks see failure in a few short years. I see the longterm influence of the US presence in Iraq, and the inevitable westernization that will result. Already arcades, internet, satellite tv and computer games are on the job promoting the western lifestyle and belief system.

Give them a few more decades and Islam will never be the same.

Being exactly eye to eye with Tom is not necessary. We both see the need for our continued presence in Iran and neither of us question the legality of the overthrow of Saddam or seek retreat from engagement there. That's more than enough for us to be on the same page.

Last night I dreamt about suicide bombers in America - little kids about 6 years old strapped with explosives and with blank looks on their faces. They were showing up everywhere from auto repair shops to movie theaters and even daycare centers. It's one thing reading about them and its another when your mind creates a very real amalgamated version for you to confront. At no point did I want to destroy or kill these 'bombers' even though I knew they were intent upon blowing themselves up.

Like all my dreams they serve very important purposes. This one helped to clarify things for me:

A) Our 'enemy' is seriously disturbed and needs help.

B) Our 'enemy' is brainwashed, and very dangerous - to others & himself.

C) Our enemy's power lays almost SOLELYT in his ability to indoctrinate the young.

With these it is clear we need to redouble our efforts in the schooling department, bring in a few million hand-held carefully selected video games and shift our primary focus on the next generations.

Take away Islams power over their young and you destroy Islam.

The solution? It's sheer genius:

We send 100,000 US union teachers to the mid-east and in short order the kids will hate their existing national government, lose the technical know-how to assemble complex bomb wiring and will fully support revolutionaries and foreign invasion of their nation by people who have no reason to be there.

;-)