[Bill Shaw]

While it may not be the most popular perspective (at the moment)...

A look at the larger picture often provides greater clarity.

Many (read that as pretty much all) observers of the current conflict trace the root back to the suicide attack on the U.S Marine Barracks in the predawn hours of October 23, 1983

Common dismissal to the extent of organization it took to wreak that level of havoc would have it believed a small renegade group was behind it.

Almost never mentioned is the fact that for almost 12 hours immediately following the attack, the Airport and Barracks areas were constantly fired on from the nearby mountains to the extent helicopters could not safely be brought in to remove the wounded and dead. Only when Israeli planes began firing into the mountains did it cease.

A major contributing factor towards the success of the attack was that the Marines guarding the area were doing so with arms that contained no rounds. A diplomat concession, reflecting their presence as peace keepers as opposed to an occupying force.

Ever since, any action taken to reduce or remove U.S. military participation in the region (and by that, I mean as far west as the Mediterranean, and east as Asia) has been met by organized attacks to exploit the diminished participation.

On our shores, the September 2001 World Trade Center attack was the culmination of a series of attempts that began in 1993 by, if not centrally led, certainly sympathetic entities.

The reason I mention any of this is we are truly blessed to have the military apparatus and leadership thereof we do. That includes all the Commanders in Chief before and since (even that embarrassment of a Co-President from Arkansas).

Were it not for them, this country would have resembled Beirut long ago. And the very same folks that waffle between "get out" and "not enough was done" arguments might not have the life or liberty to do so.

Let another major foreign induced calamity happen in this country today.

How short would the cycle be from stunned silence to nitpicking unimportant elements (out of context) as if they had a more workable solution?