When this country was hit in the heart of it's greatest city on 9 / 11, the worst attack on it's soil, a response was necessary. Now when the Japanese hit Pearl Harbor, the choices were easy. It was an attack by a soverign nation on another. Not to pin any medals on the Japanese, it was a filthy sneak attack. Still though they did strike at a military target although civilians were also killed. On 9 / 11 mass murder on civilian targets were carried out by a cult of religious fanatcs. Their objective was murder. They were not from a soverign nation. And their ideology knows no borders. So what to do?

Well if you listen to the democrats who did sign on to the Iraqi war by the way, they would have done it differently. Appearently they agreed with the president on Afghanastan. After all, this was tracking the murderers where they live. But then, and since the war in Iraq looks like it will require commitment they say they would have stopped. It seems they would then use "POLICE" methods and try to bring to justice each villain for each crime.

So lets see, the USS Cole, the embassy bombings, you know, like the Lockerbie airline or flight 800 over Long Island. Go tit for tat and play cops and robbers all over the world. And lets say they actualy got everybody. What then? Well here's what then. They wait. And they wait until we are hit again and again. And they play keystone cops again. They hunt down and chase them all over the globe. Which by the way, Bush is also hunting them as well. But that would be all. That is their strategy. Yes, they also spend gazillions on tightening the security of the homeland. They are very good with programs and such like this.

So lets flip the coin now. The other school of thought. Bush's policy. I don't want to make this a Dem. / Rep. issue but lets be honest. It is what it is. Anyway, rather than playing keystone cops with each and every new terrorist, waiting for the golden Gate or the Statue of Liberty to fall, Bush says, I'll show em. I'll show em what this country will do when it's city is attacked and smoldering in ashes. The response must be of global proportions. First stop, Iraq.

Now right or wrong, he is showing the world, not just the terrorists what happens when you hit us. Things get a little hairy for everyone. We start by taking out our sworn enemy who would be first to try to bring us down. A crazed dictator who had the revenues to eventualy throw somebody a small nuclear device, say in a suitcase. Do not kid yourselves on this. This man was trapped and cornered by us and the British sinse the first gulf war. A cornered rat will look for a chance and strike. And then of course it was also to show the world and Iran, hey, look who is in your backyard now. Better behave or your next. And there is every possibility they are.

So I say thank you Mr. President. I for one prefer offense to defense. Sure, war sucks and casualties will continue to grow but have you ever asked yourselves why it was OK for past generation to sacrifice but not ours. Clint Eastwoods new movie shows the struggle on Iwo Jima. I believe we had 6,000 casualtuies there. Okinawa had in excess of 20,000 killed and wounded. Freedom is not free and a price has to be paid. I am in favor of bringing back the draft. Let Americans from all walks of life do their part. They say we are fine like it is however. This is another topic altogether.

So there are two schools of thought here. The President realizes that the enemy knows no borders. We have been taking hits from this ideology from as far back as the asssasination of Robert Kennedy. They will not stop unless we stop them. Go after them. Shake the world up. Wake the world up. If you disagree and are in the other school of thought then be prepared to tell your children why the Statue of Liberty was blown up or the Golden Gate bridge. Or God forbid one of our cities was evaporated by a mushroom cloud. But even closer to home, maybe while you are sitting in your malls, sipping a cappuccino or while at a bus stop or on a train. Just like what are daily occurences in Tel Aviv. No, again, I for one must thank the President for thinking on a scale which is a properly measured response for this heinous act of murder, 9 / 11. And maybe that is why the Red States as we call them are not going away. There are many Americans who know the real deal here.

Thank you