jethro,
who here has attacked anything our troops are doing? These discussions are not about what our troops are doing or how valiant they are, but about our politicians, who are not valiant, and by my definition, many from both parties are about as close to being traitors as Benedict Arnold was. They serve not their country, but themselves and their friends. I was all for our overthrow of Afghanistan, and the Taliban, but recently it seems that what we got for our sacrifice, or more appropriately for the sacrifice of our elite, noble warriors (with which I wholeheartedly agree), since we know that not one son or daughter of a Congressman or President will die in these 2 wars, is little better than what was there before. Right now, the Kharzai government is weighing very carefully the option of allowing a converted Christian to be put to death by a crowd and by the Muslim Clerics who truly control Afghanistan, or bowing to the wishes of the West and to the letter of their Constitution, which says this man should be free to practice as he sees fit. He may well be set free, but if he is not snuck out of the country by our troops, the Clerics will hunt him down like a dog and stone him to death or hang him. And IF he is set free as the Kharzai government promises they will (after they declare him mentally unfit for converting), the Government faces a VERY REAL threat of overthrow by Muslim militias who are loyal to the Clerics. Women are still 3rd Class citizens (since the Constitution defers to and is based almost solely upon the Shiryah or Islamic Law? Stoning, hangings and beheadings are still a very likely outcome for any infraction against Islam. So,exactly what kind of "democracy" have the lives of our troops bought for us in Afghanistan. Why should I believe that the vast majority of Afghans aren't sympathetic to the Iranians, or to Osama Bin Laden (who, 5 years later is still out there taunting us!), or aren't actively supporting the Taliban or the Clerics chanting "Death to Bush", "Death to America" under the "freedoms" of the new Afghani Constitution. Sorry, but for the blood spilled by young American men and women, it seems like we got a VERY poor bargain! And I have little faith that Iraq will turn out much better, since the trend seems to favor Islamic Law over "democracy" in almost every country in that region, even amongst our staunchest allies. I hope every day that I'm wrong, but so far the events don't seem to be very promising.