We started an illegal war for the wrong reason, damn near got our ass whupped, and barely managed to squeak out without a disaster, with none of our original, illegal goals met. It seems to me like we barely broke even. Except for the flag-draped coffins and all the new friends we made in the Muslim World.

You can spend the rest of your life refighting this war, just like you've spent your life up to now refighting Vietnam. I have a feeling this one will turn out just like the last one: the world still looks the same and history ain't changed. There were no falling dominoes in the far east, were there? And the great Yellow peril is dying to trade with us and engage in regular relations.

I will make a prediction, though. Al-Quaeda doesn't want us to leave Iraq, they're going to do everything they can to keep us there because it fits in with their plans to keep things stirred up in the MidEast. They don't have to win, all they have to do is stay in the news, and they are more willing to die than we are willing to fight. Look for an Al-Quaeda offensive in the near future. It need not be successful, it just has to happen. And Obama will be a damn fool if he takes the bait, just like Bush was. It's time for the Iraquis to do their own fighting and for us to go home. And when we've punished the Taliban, we leave that other hell-hole too.