Hawk, Thank you for your service...
Well Chas.. I appreciate your words.. but frankly, I wish I had not had to see so many young men and women having to serve in Iraq. But given the philosphical civil war that is being waged there, it is necessary, if only to insure that the Jihadists are confronted and defeated and some form of moderate (and likely Islamic "inflected") government succeeds there.
This was on terror is, foremost, a civil war between moderates and militants. It is in our interest to insure that moderates have the "motivation" to remain that way, and to prevent more moderates from falling into the Jihadist camp (either by economic and humanitarian aid, or by force).
Unfortunately, that means more fine young American men and women are going to be killed or maimed in the Mid-East.
But the last thing we want to do is make this into a full-fledged total war of conquest in the Islamic world. Sure, we can likely conquer them, but we're not going to get much help from the rest of the world to do so, and holding and occupying the Mid-East would necessitate a mobilization of manpower and treasure far in excess required during WWII, IMO.
Hawk |
