I felt the need to chime in on several aspects of the widespread fighting in Iraq. First of all, my thoughts are with our amazing military personel, who are once again putting everything on the line for us. There's simply no way to express the debt of gratitude we owe these outstanding individuals.

While it is easy and understandable to be depressed by the events of the last few days, I believe there may be a hidden positive in the current uprising. While it seems we have a new enemy, we have a visible enemy who has made a decision to show himself. A visible enemy is one who can be killed. One must also ask the question, why has this well trained and well organized group decided to break cover only months before the handoff of power in Iraq? Wouldn't it have been easier to accomplish their goals after power had been officially turned over to the Iraqis? I believe the answer to these questions is that these people are desperate. They clearly fear that the US is going to succeed in their mission in Iraq, and they are staging a last ditch effort to dislodge us. A more strategic move would have been to wait until after the Iraqis took power, or even wait until the US was closer to the presidential election. I believe they have chosen to act now because they feel their window of opportunity is closing. This is a positive development, and it underscores the fact that we cannot deviate from this mission. There is just too much hanging in the balance. If it costs George Bush the presidency, then it will be worth it. This is bigger than any domestic issue being batted around in the media.

It seems we hit a mosque today, with possibly 40 casualties. While the circumstances of the attack are unclear, I wonder if this represents a change in tactics on the part of our forces. So much the better if it does. While I understand the political ramifications of "desecrating" a mosque, they can no longer be a sanctuary for terrorists. The terrorists who hide themselves and their weapons in mosques are the ones desecrating them. If that's where we happen to find them, we owe it to ourselves and the Iraqis to forget about politics and kill the bastards inside, period. I sincerely hope that this was not an accidental attack on innocent civilians. But if terrorists chose to hide among innocent worshippers, they are the ones responsible for the carnage. It needs to be made clear that there is no place for the scum of the earth to hide.

It has been widely reported that there has been a major influx of terrorists from places like Syria and Iran. It's time for us to take the gloves off. Again, possibly political suicide, but I'm over that. Give them one final warning, and the next day BLOW THE LIVING SHIT OUT OF THESE SCUMBAGS! In fact, forget abut the warning. I don't care how much it costs. Iran would probably implode from revolution the day we crossed the border, and Syria has all the military might of Vermont. It's time we deal with ALL of our enemies, not just the ones that pass the politically correct muster.

Do I sound pissed? You bet I am. I'm not watching TV at all today, because if I see one John Kerry ad I'm going to smash my head through the TV set.