Gik,

Listen up Numbnutz. Here's what I'd say to our troops: "You guys are the Giant Green Killing Machine. The only reasonable purpose for being in Afghanistan is to lay waste and kill as many Taliban and Al Qaida as possible. While you're at it, if you can kill any and all who are associated with killing UN members or families because of their intolerance of American freedom of speech, double combat bonuses all around."

Lest there be any misunderstanding, I'm a pacifist, a peacenik. But when war is called for, I believe in laying such massive waste that the perps, or what's left of them, won't be capable of waging any offensive against the US for a century or so.

If the US doesn't stand for freedom, including our Constitutional freedom of speech, just what the h3ll do we stand for? Are you a radical Muslim sympathizer or something?

***********************
<snipped from another post>

Patraeus is wrong. He's sacrificing a fundamental principle of the U.S. Constitution for the convenience of avoiding the wrath of emotional reactionaries. If you're willing to cave in on this, what else of the Constitution are you willing to cave in on? Again, if the US doesn't stand for its Constitutional principles, exactly WTF do we stand for?

*******************************

Sg