Had to take wife to work, and kids to the comic book store.

I don't know what will be done about Syria and Iran. Nobody is going to invade either nation, but some serious clamping down on the borders would be kind of nice. Both countries have been fanning this war since the beginning, providing money, personnel, advanced explosives, and other support for the insurgents and al Qaeda.

Iran, contrary to the Accepted Wisdom, is backing both Sunni and Shiite forces where it suits their interests.

I could see some sort of sea blockade of Iran as a punitive measure, but it's a serious step that should not be taken lightly. Sanctions are not going to get out of the Security Council in any useful form.

Wouldn't it be great if diplomacy and sanctions were an option? But we've seen how this has worked on Iran so far in the nuclear issue. Not.

The European "tripwire" strategy worked, and not a shot was fired. Already, memories seem to be failing us, and the fact that U.S. forces in Europe kept the Soviets at bay for years has been forgotten.

The oil revenue sharing plan has been suggested by a LOT of people, including many pro-war types. Unfortunately, if one was to assume that Iraq would be doing it, it had to wait for a real government to form.

Now, if we had been a TRUE occupying force, simply taking over the country for a few years like we did Japan, including oil production, we could have implemented something like that right away. After about a year of fat checks, maybe Iraqis would be cheering Americans as they drove down their streets.

Better to hope it works, because now Iraq is vital to American interests, as it never would have been had Bush not made the foolish decision to invade.

This is the "stable Iraq" myth again. No rational person could look at the history of Iraq and its actions under Saddam, and come to the conclusion that it was stable, harmless, or would never affect the interests of the U.S. if left alone. I could document this all again. Do I have to?

The pre-9/11 status quo led to 9/11. Just so we remember that. And that was the second terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, so obviously we can be blindsided.

Bush's entire theory of the war on terror, agree or disagree, is that we can't afford to have the battle lines be the U.S. borders any more.

To accept that line of thinking, and have any reasonable level of safety, would require levels of security measures in our own country that would not be something most people would want to see.