John:

Thank-you for the very eloquent description of the angst endured by almost
all young American males in the late sixties. Personally, as a Canadian, I
normally try to refrain from being judgmental about the policies of other
countries (eg. the USA) but I just thank whoever's in charge that I didn't
have to put myself through the psychological anguish and turmoil that has
left its mark on so many Americans of our generation to this day.

And your statement -
"And before any of you get your panties all in a knot, I supported going
into Afghanistan - I just wish we had finished the job - because the
Taliban and al-Qaeda were a threat."
was validated still further over the weekend by none other than Colin
Powell who said on NBC's Meet The Press -

"I have no indication that there was a direct connection between the
terrorists who perpetrated these crimes against us on the 11th of
September, 2001, and the Iraqi regime. We know that there had been
connections and there had been exchanges between al-Qaida and the Saddam
Hussein regime and those have been pursued and looked at, but I have seen
nothing that makes a direct connection between Saddam Hussein, that awful
regime, and what happened on 9/11."

Had W simply stayed the course and finished the job in Afghanistan (with
the support of virtually every civilized country in the world) instead of
initiating the ill-advised invasion of Iraq, imagine just how much more
secure the entire planet could have been today.

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