That if the only way to do it is the way it has been done, which is to lose it, the entire situation is hopeless. The US has no plan, no strategy other than stay the course, which has been a losing course. And, it's bred more terrorists, more hate, and more havens that OBL could have envisioned. None of that is rationally deniable.

And, I have to agree with you. The damage done to the US by this adventurism, this aggression, is so vast and deep the US may not ever recover. Vast areas of the world won't be safe for Americans for a long, long time, and someone who resents their villages being bombed may try to strike at US interests. Which Conservatives, like all bullies, will regard as unfair.

If there is no way to combat terrorism except by creating more hate and terrorists, then it's over. Cut yer losses.

All that's left is the blame. The US can't keep 140,000 troops over there forever, and that seems to be the minimum to keep the present regime in power and Bush able to claim it isn't over. The US permanent bases in Iraq probably will be thrown out unless the US can maintain a large occupying force, the $3 billion embassy may not be the center of US control over the Middle East, and the US, without more and more people dying cannot guarantee Halliburton the oil.

Arf