Question: "Having read your post on Lugar and Voinovoich, do you advocate a military strike against Iran?

Do you really believe Bush is directly allowing Iranians to kill Americans?

And finally if the Republicans lose their resolve as they seem to be doing aka Lugar what would be the best exit strategy?

I know that it may not be what is best but do you see a silver lining iow we may leave Iraq but we will still be in Afghanistan and thus continue to be not as large thorn in the side of radical Islam but nonetheless a force to be reckoned with." -- libliever

Answer: Let's take these questions one at a time.

Having read your post on Lugar and Voinovoich, do you advocate a military strike against Iran?

I think Bush should give the Iranians an ultimatum: if we find you training or sheltering insurgents or shipping materials to them, then we're going to bomb you. Nobody should be allowed to target American soldiers with impunity. So, if Iran wants to target Americans for death, then we should target them back, and quite frankly, we're a whole hell of a lot better at it than they are.

Do you really believe Bush is directly allowing Iranians to kill Americans?

I'm not sure what you're going for there. Is it some sort of "Trutheresque," Bush knows the Iranians are coming to kill American soldiers and he's allowing it to happen to help Haliburton somehow? If that's what you're driving at, no, that's not what I meant.

What I do mean is that the military keeps announcing every so often that Iran is aiding the insurgents, training the insurgents, and giving them powerful IEDs to be used against American troops. Is Bush trying to stop them from doing that? I'm sure he is. Has he authorized covert actions to pay the Iranians back? That's entirely possible. But, whatever he's doing isn't working. The Iranians are continuing to help the insurgents kill American troops. That's absolutely unacceptable and Bush should use any means necessary to stop it.

And finally if the Republicans lose their resolve as they seem to be doing aka Lugar what would be the best exit strategy?

I don't care how you slice it, there is no good way to lose a war to Al-Qaeda and if, as expected, the Democrats put us in a position where all of our troops have to pull out of Iraq by a certain date, I don't think there will be any "best" way to manage the damage. All we'll be able to do, if we leave the country, is watch the whole thing devolve into a chaotic bloodbath and then pick out the set of butchers we want to help with money, training, and materials.

I know that it may not be what is best but do you see a silver lining iow we may leave Iraq but we will still be in Afghanistan and thus continue to be not as large thorn in the side of radical Islam but nonetheless a force to be reckoned with.

The problem with this sort of thinking is that what the Democrats are about to force us to do is send the entire world a message that says: all you have to do when you're fighting America is hang in there long enough and we will give in. If we cut and run in Iraq, why wouldn't the terrorists think we'll eventually do the same thing in Afghanistan?