[Al Swearengen]

I've said this many times, but I'll say it again for the sake of clarity and definition. Our leaders, the powers that be, have been foistin this "War On Terror" nonsense off on the general public since 911. But terrorism aint a regime, it aint a dictator...its a tactic, a method, a means to an end employed by those who seek change thru fear. Callin it the "War On Terror" is a whole hell of alot more PC than callin it what it really is, which is war on radical Islam. We all know that religious extremism of any kind is a threat to freedom, but here, now, in the modern age, it is the radical Islamists that pose the greatest threat to peace-lovin people not just here in the U.S., but everywhere around the globe. Are there Islamic radicals in Iraq? Ya bet your ass. They're also found in Iran, Syria, Egypt, Saudi Arabia...especially our good buddies the Saudis...everywhere Islam is practiced. We as a nation can not eradicate the threat by occupyin foreign lands usin our young people in uniform as a police force (somethin they're not trained for). The reason this strategy is failin is because the enemy is insideously integrated into the population of the country. In other words, they blend in so well that we cant see em until they rear their diaper-shrouded nappy little heads. Now, the natives could expose the extremists, makin em easier for us to spot...and they sometimes do. But for the most part, the native civilian non-combatants stay mum about it out of fear of retaliation. As if that werent bad enough, the natives are startin to resent our presence in their country, just as we would resent any occupyin force, regardless of whether that force claimed to be "helpin" us. To sum it up, our current game plan just aint workin. We're losin way too many of our precious young people with nothin to show for it. And the bad guys can keep this up alot longer than we can, because they have the home field advantage. We cant afford to lose any more soldiers with the tragically ineffective strategy we're usin now.

In addition, we need to look at who seems to be benefitin the most from this foolhardy venture, which seems to be the good ole boys at Halliburton, the Carlyle Group, and the various other defense contractors. Think about that...Bush and Cheney are linin their pockets with all that blood money. They're gettin filthy rich in this fiasco at the expense of our sons and daughters. We did the right thing when we took down Saddam and his boys. We did for Iraq what they could not do for themselves. But now its time to hand it off to the Iraqis and let em make of it what they will. If they screw it up again, thats on them, and we should'nt bail em out a second time.