George,

Okay now for Hambo. First I am too old to join the National Guard and I have two infants. If they, like their Uncle who led two tours of Vietnam and defended his country proudly, wish to join the military I will advocate it. My Uncle volunteered by the way. Ham, I come from Virginia Beach and know many of the brave men and woman who have defended our country and have a great understanding of the risks. My childhood friend lost his father in Viet Nam and I just sent prayers to another friend for his son in Iraq. So intimating that I am out of touch with the men and women in uniform is disgusting and points to your arrogance. As for demonstrating my patriotism, I think you are missing the point Porky. My patriotism is irrelevant. But if building a false argument around my theoretical patriotism helps you prove your flaccid point, by all means use it.

It is simplistic. By going to war with Iraq, Al Qaeda and the Taliban we sent a clear and "simple" message that attacking the US was not going to happen on our watch again. I know it's dumb and old fashioned but when you fight back, bullies tend to think twice. Didn't Gorby just say recently that when Ronny got tough with the air traffic controllers, the Soviets knew they were dealing with a man that would not back down. Did he back down? No. What happened? Hmmmmmm ... let me see here .... I'm thinking .... Oh yeah... the end of communism as we know it.

You can look through many administrations' for what we could or should have done. Did Bill Clinton have a shot at Sadaam? Did we prop up Sadamm? Has the CIA been in a state of confusion for decades? Should we have treated terrorist actions as a legal proceeding or military proceeding? Let's be fair though while criticism always mounts for actions not taken after the fact, where's the credit for taking action now. Put yourself in Tony Blair's and George W's shoes on September 12. You want to hold a conference?

I ask you again, since you are so bloody educated and brilliant. What would you have done? Would you have gone back to the toothless UN for the twelfth time? And ... don't say build a coalition. Colin Powell tried that.

Ham, Do you like mustard sauce or vinegar on your pork?

Tyler Sewell (electronic mail, July 14, 2004)

PS. "Greed is good ... for lack of a better word."