DevDave:

In general, I agree with you that those who complain without presenting a viable alternative aren't adding to the discussion. I'd give Red H a bit of room though, since his posts strike me as more of the "I wish it hadn't been malfed, why doesn't anybody do something" variety more so than the Phil Donahue "Bush did it to make his friends rich, we have to cut and run now like a whipped dog" drivel we hear all to often.

I too am frustrated that the time/resources going into the stablization of Iraq make it harder for us to wax the next terror-haven/rogue state in line. Backing off Iran or NK, or taking Syria apart like the dime watch it is would please me more. However, since Iraq is broke and must be fixed if we're gonna have a long-term win, we simply have to finish the job well.

I do suspect that we need a lot more boots than we have though. The finest army in the world can't use multi-million dollar force multipliers to identify 5 badguys up in the third room on the left, back hallway, flush them out and take them down. That's a job, and a long slow tough one, for the dog-faces. I think our gals and guys are doing it and doing it well -- but they're not in a position to do that and something else, and I wish the DoD had been more honest with itself about that from the get go.