Good stuff Dave! Agree with most of it. Main part that I would disagree with is this:

"If we had pulled out of Iraq after we bombed them back into the stone age and ran over their armies, they would be spending the next 500 years killing one another over food and water instead of planning their next attack on us while killing our occupying forces and making a lot of rich folks richer. "

A few problems with that philosophy if history can be a guide. After WWI, that's pretty much what happened to Germany. Part of the reason that the Nazis were able to come to power and part of the reason for WWII. After WWII, Germany and Japan were both rebuilt. Both are our allies today. With regard to Iraq, there are a couple more issues. First, it was Saddam's regime that was at issue, not most of the population. That aside, if Iraq was left wide open, then you have the potential for Al Queda, or other terrorist groups, to then use it as a safe haven. In addition, there would be the potential for Iran to take over. Neither of those are happy thoughts.

I see some suggesting that Obama is borrowing ideas from Bush, or keeping some of his ideas. I'm not sure why this is a bad thing. No one has suggested that everything Bush did was bad. Given 20-20 hindsight, Obama can keep those things that worked, modify others, and ditch those that did not work at all (just as Bush did for stuff Clinton did, Clinton did for Bush I, etc). In some cases, we do want folks to have the same clear message. For example, after giving the ok for a cross border raid on Taliban/Al Quade targets in Pakistan, Obama noted that we would hunt such people wherever they tried to hide. Echoes what Bush had said. That is definitely something that Al Quade should know: doesn't matter who is in charge, you cannot hide.

I see also some of the others posting suggesting that talking to Iran or other countries that are not our allies as being a bad idea. I'm not sure how people got the idea that such talks would be the equivalent of sitting around the campfire, making somemores, and singing cumbiya. Dialog between various nations is necessary. Under Bush, we chose not to talk with Iran or N Korea as they were part of the "axis of evil". That philosophy did not work. N Korea has test fired several long-range missiles and Iran is still trying for nukes. Gotta try something different.

To echo Dave:

"FACT: If this country is to survive and our way of life is to survive, you better get your head out of the sand and stand up to be counted as an AMERICAN...not a **** Republican, Democrat, African American Republican, African American Democrat, Latino American Republican, Latino American Democrat....etc, etc, etc. "

Probably would not hurt for all of us to read that part again, several times, until it sinks in.

Andrew