My point of view is that the Jihadist presence in Iraq is insignificant, and mostly generated by our being there. That we are not consuming their resources, we are only taking out a few fanatics and kids, and an occasional explosives or terror expert.

This is not true. Al Qaeda considers Iraq a critical battleground, and we have taken out some major figures there. Al Qaeda in Iraq is second only to the main group in Pakistan.

For the record, we more or less did "drive Russia to the poorhouse" in Vietnam. The resources they spent on that war were a major factor in bringing them down eventually.

Your "red coats" analogy is wrong, and a bit insulting. The media can see military people only two ways: butchers or victims. The impression you get of our hapless men wandering around while they are shot at our enemy's convenience is deliberately given, and incorrect.

You don't hear about victories. Most of the time, you don't even hear about the battles.

The media set itself to our defeat from day one. The word "quagmire" was used before our lines even reached Baghdad. Every failure is magnified, and successes are spiked.

The people you are getting much of your news from do not want this war won. That is a harsh statement, but every aspect of their behavior bears it out. There has been plenty of bad news out of Iraq, but for over three solid years the American people have been getting, from their newspapers and television sets, only the bad news.

What is really depressing is that, if we had never invaded Iraq at all, they would have done the same thing with Afghanistan. They were getting a good start on it during 2002, until Iraq became a more effective target.

I am becoming afraid that the United States is no longer capable of fighting a real war. Our culture has altered to the point where it just cannot be done effectively.

Our young are being trained to believe that the United States, its values, and its traditions, have no right to exist. Meanwhile, the young of our enemies are being taught that they should rule by divine right, and that their values should destroy all others.

In WWII we believed in American exceptionalism. This idea is now considered obscene.

It may only be a matter of time now.

Oh, we will do useless "police actions," showing the flag in places like Africa while our ruthless enemies just sit back and wait for us to get tired and go away, or just kill enough Americans to get us to give up. Back to the tactics of Somalia and Beirut again.

The next real war after Iraq and Afghanistan will be one of desperate self-defense, and, in extremis, genocide.