John,

Well, I stepped in it there, didn't I? <s> That is a really admirable military career. On November 11, the only appropriate words are "Thank you." That's sincere, however far apart our political views are.

In that spirit, and in the ongoing belief that reasonable people can discuss things even if they don't necessarily agree, let me toss a few things out there.

You explicitly linked the invasion of Iraq to the fight against terrorism. Is that really your belief? FWIW, personally I think our little adventure in Iraq, which has turned into our long adventure, has increased the terrorist threat against us, not reduced it.

Question 2: as always, a disproportionate number of the casualties in Iraq have been Marines. They get the toughest missions so it's no criticism of them. How do you feel about all those Marines coming home in caskets? I am thinking specifically of a feature article in Newsweek last week about a Marine who was killed in Iraq. It quoted many of his emails home. His mission was to train Iraqi soldiers. He was semper fi to the max, hard core, questioning only the ability of the Iraqi army and police force to take up the slack if we leave. His disrespect for their ability to do so was palpable. Just in the space of 3 pages I liked and respected that guy. A valiant death in a good cause or a good life wasted?

What should our exit strategy from Iraq be? No one seems to have the answer to that one, neither the administration nor its assailers. I don't claim to, either. The one thing I have read that makes some sense is that at this point we should follow the Korea exit model. We are not going to "win"; there is no possibility of that. We are not fighting any defined enemy and there is no one to surrender to us. But we can't just bail out, either. All that would do is insure the extermination or evacuation of the remaining Sunnis. So what do we do? In Korea we left without either winning or losing, but we left in a way that all sides could feel they were better off, and with uncatastrophic consequences.

Just questions. Answer or not, it's up to you. And happy Veteran's Day.

Mike



>I know Tracy's a vet and she knows I know. I don't think she was irritated at all.
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>USMC 1970-1978 (Worked with 2nd Marines 4th ITT (interrogator-translator Team) out of Camp Geiger, NC.
>USN 1980 -1992 (Senior Russian Linguist/Analyst Mediterranean Operations).
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>>I don't know if you know this but Tracy is a vet. And she didn't spend her time there darning the men's socks. Hence her irritation, which I thought she understated. PC has nothing to do with it.
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>>Out of curiosity, what branch of the service and what unit were you in?
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>>>I'm sorry, I meant men as a collective noun, I should have been more politically correct. :)
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>>>>Not to mention the military women :o)
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>>>>>Thanks much, however, it looks like the last one for a while where the military men can feel proud of their service and not made to feel like ignorant know-nothings....
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>>>>>>I will be off tomorrow, so I would like to wish all the past and present Veterans a good day. Lets let them all know that they were and are appreciated.