[JPhillips]

Edward: Well we sure as hell won't get anywhere by lobbing nukes. There is no way that using a nuke first will be for the better of the USA. It may(but probably won't) make the ME safer for us, but you can't discount the effect on the rest of the world. The surest way to our being knocked off the top of the hill is using a nuke first.

What we do now is tricky. First we need to really focus on terrorism if that is our main threat. We get told one thing, but the QDR makes it clear that we are still focused on a large contry to country conflict. If terrorism isn't our main threat be honest about it. I'm personally not sure that terrorism is a bigger threat over the next three decades than China, but the admin tells us all the time that terrorism is the main problem.

We need a larger Army. If we're going to commit to long term occupations we need the troops to do it. Right now we really can't do anything much in Iran because we don't have troops free. I would love to add six divisions, but the admin is very reluctant to add any troops. All our fancy weapons are almost useless in insurgency combat and the only answer is more troops.

Devise and follow a plan for Iraq. Its clear to me that we are the focus of the problems in Iraq. I'm willing to admit that Iraq may fall into chaos without the U.S., but I'm convinced it will never be stable as long as we are a crutch for the Iraqi government. The government of Iraq, our supposed allies, have also stated that its fine for Iraqis to kill us. We can't stay in a country that sees us as the problem. We need to declare victory and start a phased withdrawal now before it really will look like we're running.

Our only long-term hope is to get out of the oil business. I don't know if that can happen, but I'll give Bush credit on finally pushing alternative fuels. I don't think we'll ever be friends with militant Islam so the answer is to stop relying on them for our way of life.

We're finally basing terrorism defense money on risk and that's well overdue. I wish the Homeland Security head had more ability to coordinate projects. I still think we're woefully unprepared for an attack.

I want those in the admin to be held accountable and not given medals. Right now loyalty trumps competence. We hire college students to hand out reconstruction money, have a CPA head that touts export tax relief as a major accomplishment, and have a Defense administration that has been wrong on almost every prediction and assumption. I thought this was supposed to be a new era of responsibility.

Finally, I don't think its possible to eliminate the risk of terrorism. Its just something that we'll have to do our best to limit. It helps a lot that we're so far away from the terrorists and I have to believe that the Arab countries can't hold off modernity forever. I generally believe the Bush rhetoric on democracy, but the election results in Palestine, Egypt and Iraq are worrying. What do we do if the militants win elections? Maybe having to be in charge will help mellow them.

What I'm sure of is that we can't kill everyone that doesn't like us. Its simply impossible. That, along with a real ignorance of WWII history, is why I called Kobeck a fool.