Thanks for that first link. I don't read Neptunis Lex as regularly as I should and that post is definitely a don't-miss.

I trust you'll let everyone know that Blackfive's "How To Lose A War" post was just the first in a 3-part (so far) series, all of which is worth reading.

Our local (Lawrenceville, Ill.) Guard unit, composed largely of kids and grandkids of people I grew up with, left the States this morning enroute to Iraq. It'll be interesting to see if Senator Durbin has the 'nads to visit our sleepy little town anytime soon. If he's really, really lucky folks might remember he backed the HEROES Act and let him off with a good tag-team whuppin'.

As a Viet Nam vet who lives with the knowledge that, by snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, this nation spit on the graves of 58,000 brave Americans and in the faces of every one of us who came back whole, I hope and pray that the American populace has gotten enough smarter since then not to make the same mistake again. We dodged a bullet last November but that doesn't mean there couldn't still be trouble around the next corner.

NO! We can't lose. I remember the week that Siagon fell. I remember watching the helicopters lifting the people from the embassy buildings roof and yard. I felt so sad. No we cannot let the soldiers who have given the ultimate sacrifice, down. We must succeed.
I think the new prime minister of Iraq needs to get tougher. He needs to lock that country down.
He needs a Tito style government, at least until stabilty returned to Iraq. The Iraqis need to get tough.