A "DO OVER."

Thank the Lord, the political season is maybe close to being over. And, it is time to get to "figure out how to right the country." For what it's worth, I do have one last comment. Rarely in life, do we get a chance to have a "do over" or as they say in golf, a mulligan, or maybe another chance to right a wrong but it appears to me that the state of Georgia has a shot.

In 2002, Saxbe Chambliss absolutely maligned Vietnam vet and triple amputee, Max Cleland, during the Senate campaign. Even John McCain called his comments outrageous. Chambliss called into question Cleland's patriotism. Get the picture, here is a Vietnam vet in a wheelchair, legs been blown off along with one arm and Chambliss questions his patriotism and the voters bought it. Now, they have a chance for a "do over" and I hope they get it right this time.

IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN ARE NOT THE SAME

Thanks to David Harris's article in Forum. His book, Coming of Militant Islam is a classic and should be read by every thinking American. I couldn't agree more on Iraq, what a mess. The so called "surge" only worked because we separated the factions and then armed the Sunnis. A strategy that is built on a house of cards. Time to get out and if the Iraqis do not approve the security arrangement, what a lucky break for us. We got rid of Saddam, we declare victory and hit the road. Regardless, we have to get out and let what happens happen.

However, I will have to depart from him on Afghanistan. Even though we are still dealing with a tribal people, we have a chance to restore, relatively speaking, the country. Here's a suggestion: we have a professional Army that constantly needs to be trained. Let's do our training in Afghanistan. The military spends millions of dollars in places like the National Training Center in California. Let's put most of those dollars into Afghanistan for our military. We simply cannot allow the Taliban to own Afghanistan again. Every American woman should be up in arms demanding this.

We have executed a counter insurgency approach that will work and a long term effort has a chance to succeed. This is the real war on terrorism. We are not the Soviets. We have a moral obligation to give Afghanistan a chance, regardless of how long it takes. Our soldiers will get better and better at counter insurgency and so will the Afghans. This can work.

FASCINATING WWll Vets--Can't miss our opportunity to know them.

A couple of nights ago I was talking to these two regular old guys at the VFW mtg ... one did 13 island landings in the Pacific before he finally was relieved and sent home. Another guy landed on France with the infantry and went all the way to Germany, he is in his 80's and ran a half Marathon last month.
the art of listening and engaging these guys is worth the effort, both for them and myself.

I asked the guy who did all the island landings what he thought of Clint Eastwoods film, "Iwo Jima", and if he preferred the American or Japanese perspective? He leaned toward the Japanese (I thought that was an excellent move on Eastwood's part to do that one also). db


When I hear of those like this, I always wonder, what
is their story and I would love to hear it. I ran into an old guy a
few years ago at the Spinaker's Restaurant in Sausalito and he was the chief executioner at the Nurnburg Trials. He didn't tell me this as I was fascinated at watching him. What a character! He was with two fairly attractive and I venture to say younger woman. It was almost impossible not to eavesdrop and after he left, I asked the waiter that I knew who he was.

I could not wait to see him again--drove one of those really expensive Mercedes. Would you believe he died before I saw him again. So, we need to get all these guys stories you can.

jda