We Need a Wartime President

Mr. Zakaria does not mention the Cold War in his short list of existential conflicts. Is this deliberate? Certainly we were faced with an adversary who appeared to oppose our way of life implacably, with a vast array of weapons including one of the finest fifth columns ever to lurk in the shadows. Its effects still echo on the left, and the right twitches when it hears those echoes. The fact is that al-Qaida, claiming to represent the distillation of pure Islam in all the places it exists, declared war on all of civilization that fails to adhere to its extreme belief system and then commenced to wage asymetric war fairly effectively. They have not conceded defeat nor have they sued for peace.
Terror is a reaction to atrocity. It is certainly an incoherent statement of our reaction to this threat to call it a war on terror. There remains much to fear, and the solution is not to stop feeling that way, but to remove its cause.

Obama has no accomplishments - except his ability to give speeches. Put your hope in him if you can ever discern what he stands for - he "changes" his mind everyday. As for me, I refuse to vote for a socialist!

"In a sense, the warriors are pessimists. In the old days they were scared that communists would destroy America. Today they rail that Al Qaeda and Iran threaten our way of life."

I do think they can be a threat to our way of life. If we were to leave Iraq before the country has had the opportunity to completely unite and strengthen itself, it leaves them open to be attacked and taken over. This could lead to warring religious factions... the Sunnis and Shiites and it could create an ever larger involvement between the ME nations. Don't forget Iran's continuous threats to Israel which could flare things up more in the region. Now if the ME becomes a hotbed and oil wells are set ablaze, this could lead to a decrease in oil exports.
If the present oil prices are reflecting the high demand vs. lower supply of oil, would any of you like to guess how much our economy will plunge if this were to happen or to figure out how we will pay $8 - $10/gallon for gas and still be able to commute to work?
Minimal oil coming out of the region would greatly affect our economy and our lifestyles. Are we really in a position to say we can go it alone using our own reserves without the need of the ME oil? You are correct, we aren't at war we are at their mercy.

HAL: you are right the next president has a mess to clean up, and you are also right about Bin-Laden he is still free and I think that the United States should make it a priority to find him finally!! Also get Afganiistan stable. I just wish we had a better choice in presidential candidates!! I think neither McCain nor Obama will do any better than Bush has!!

It's not that we need a war time president, but we do need a president who knows what to do in times of trouble!! I don't like the 2 choices we have for president, but if I have to choose who to vote for, McCain is the best choice!! At least McCain has been around long enough to knowwhat to do! Obama has no experience.

The thing I find telling about the Project for a New American Century and its major signatories (e.g., the prominent personalities of the Bush administration) is that, for all the massive political power arrayed there, it doesn't seem that they ever thought to employ a competent economist.

Iraq's oil capacity is below what we're capable of increasing production by ourselves, and in any case there's no way that its oil reserves could satisfy the surge in world demand anyway, which would be happening with or without us. Occupation has always been expensive - far more expensive than the PNAC signatories ever expected, but they should have seen it coming - and the cost-plus contractors have probably doubled or tripled the price of the entire operation.

I really have to think that the PNAC assumed that America's resources were practically infinite when compared to those of any opponent. It's probably going to be the most costly and dangerous overestimation in Earth's history - we're already coming crashing back down from the stratosphere as it is. If the PNAC continues on in its mission to take on Iran as well, the Iranian attacks on the Straits of Hormuz and oil production in the region are going to cause collapse of the entire world economy, and *that* will indeed be the end of America's status as a superpower.

It's interesting to watch history march on, though.

Ah, darn, you mean we don't have to be super-patriots any more? Just when I was getting the hang of putting my hand over my heart every time a hearse drove by with a military procession in my neighborhood.... shucks.

Bush calls himself the "war president" because he was put into office by the GOP powers that be specifically to start a war in Iraq --- for the OIL. Goodness knows why we couldn't just buy it on the open market -the price may not have been driven up so fast though... lining the pockets of the Saudis and all of Bush's oil biz buddies. He was put into place to start a war in Iraq because Iraq has the world's second largest reserves and we're hitting peak oil in the next few years (if we haven't already, according to analysts like Matthew Simmons of Simmons & Co, an energy financial investment firm based in Houston).

It's all about the OIL, that's all it ever was, and the profit potential. So Bush deserves no credit from the people - though his buddies and their sychophants certainly give him a lot of credit.. for what, I don't know. but they still like him, I guess.

I think we should adopt a method of governing by 'committee'. The idea of one person with so much self proclaimed and unregulated power has corrupted our system beyond recognition.

I believe the predominant "liberal" argument against the Iraq invasion was that a major terrorist insurgency would be propagated *in* Iraq, thus causing a quagmirish, out-on-a-limb situation for the U.S. (as has happened). The same is not true of Afghanistan, an insurgency already existed; the difference being that being there is justified, and Iraq was a distraction and competitor for U.S. military resources.