I have a suggestion as to why the reconstruction effort is not proceeding as planned. We left too many things standing. We should have demolished everything. Had we started from scratch, I can guarantee you that everyone would be very satisfied with the progress, today. I do think getting rid of all the actual Iraqis would help with the progress as well. We could subcontract all the reconstruction to an India or Bangladeshi corporation and the job would have been done already.—-those dudes have some hustle in them.

I would be interested to know what WillWaddell thinks about this issue?

There is actually a little tidbit of info that America did not hear. The new standard for US Army deployments is 15 months. The standard was previously 12 months with a 3 month extension. So, now, does it mean we have a 15 month standard plus a 3 month extension= 18 months. All the while the USMC is sticking to their 7-9 month rotations, I used to think they were the dumb ones!

This is all crazy-talk! Secretary Gates must have been mistaken. He was thinking about something else when he made those statements.
It is all a big misunderstanding.

Imprisonment and interrogation will have a profound impact on everyone who endures it. Each person will handle the situation differently and each will submit to something different. There are any number of events that could have taken place that the public is obviously not aware of. The end reslut is the 15 sailors returned alive.
There is so much we do not know about this crew of 15 sailors. They could very well be a group of misfits who got lost, or put into situation they could not handle.

The U.S. and its Allies have been involved in military action in Afghanistan, the Philippines, Iraq, and recently in Somalia. I assume there are numerous other locations as well – Pakistan, Malaysia, Ethiopia, Sudan? We constantly hear about raised terror threat levels in the U.S. and planned and actual attacks in Spain and the U.K. The fight is clearly not over. Where is the next ‘front’ in the War on Terror? Europe? South Asia? Central Asia? I expect the next delibrate involvement against Radical Islam will be in Saudi Arabia – or maybe Pakistan. What do you think?

I have been to the Cattlemens Steakhouse,and its goooood. But, with a huge slab of beef and a few tequilla shots in my belly, I have been known to see alien spacecraft and even ghosts in the sky— but dont worry they are always very friendly.

Why is Iran ramping up the rhetoric lately? More international aid, and assistance? possibly entrance into NATO!? What do you really think the Iranians are trying to achieve? The destruction of Isreal doesnt really do anything for them as nation.

My opinion- I dont really buy into the whole second coming of the Mahdi as a reason. The Russians who have had their own significant problems with radical Islam are partners with Iran in this entire escapade. The Russian are calculated and are not going to back a crazy man for nothing. All sides know invading Iran is a much easier task than keeping a lid on the civil war in Iraq. Plus, there are millions of Russian Jews living in Isreal.
I think the Russian are behind all of this – for money. The US has become too focused on Iraq, and as result neglected a capable but poor partner, Russia. I expect Russia will step in at the last minute broker some sort of deal between Iran and the rest of the World, and in return the US will throw a little more cash their way.

Yeah, but as one success story is that we have been pretty successful at growing our nation through immigration for about the last 225 years. It has not always been a clean and neat process, but the nation is better for it.

You and your friends are right. It is not like the problems of this nation have just appeared over night. It has occurred over generations. An it will take generations to fix, just at a time where the average US adult has about a 5 minute attention span. So no one worry, we will be fine!!

America’s worst problem has got to be education. The better we can educate our children in the was of the world, the better we/they will be able to solve all our other problems. But, we have to make being ‘educated or a problem solver’ something children want to be, not a pro basketball player or rapper. I grew up wanting to be Macgyver, now I am on this site replying to this poll.