Reply #25: So in essence, we need to do what is necessary to get the job done.

[msallied]

And in that, I agree.

If we want to finish this thing, then we need to stop kowtowing to outside political forces that understand very little of what is happening on the ground there. If we don't send in enough troops, the ones we are sending will be sent to their slaughter. That's what happened in Iraq. We thought we could do it on the cheap, but we were wrong.

If we're going to be in this thing, then we need to do whatever it takes or get the fuck out. Personally, I support our efforts there to wipe the Taliban off the map. Call me a hawk, but there is a ripple effect, from the human rights issues, to the religious extremism, to the heroin problem that will not go away until they are defeated.

I don't like war. Not for a second. But I also understand that we have to finish the job, and we can't do that if we don't give the mission the full effort it deserves.

When it comes to a war, you're either in and you're managing all of the risks and death that come with it in order to accomplish your goal, or you're out. Neither option is pretty but you gotta choose.