Now, that's a surprise - who'd a thunk that the man behind the K Street project to grow and institutionalize yet further the corruption in DC would be a fan of the Lord of the Rings? It might be the first thing I've liked about him.

But when are the neocons going to stop with the propaganda conflating Iraq and Hitler?

No, we didn't ask how long the troops would be in Europe - much - in 1944, but that doesn't mean the two wars are the same: George Bush was sure asking how long the troops would be at war in 2000 when he explained how President Clinton owed the nation a clearly articulated 'exit strategy'. I guess not all wars are the same as WWII.

Yeah, America was so eager to defeat Hitler that it devised the cunning plan of forgeting to enter the war until over two years after everyone else.

...the answer to "How long will US troops be there" is "at least ten years after there is any substantive reason for them to."

simply because there's no reason for them to attack again. In the eyes of al Qaida, 9-11 is the "gift that keeps on giving" so to speak. It's still paying heavy dividends. They have to be thrilled at what Bush is doing to the constitution. Why should they "take way our freedom" when Bush is quite willing to do it for them?

...Rick Santorum walks out to make his concession speech in a Star Trek costume.

If we actually had Frodo and Sam marching into Tora Bora (or wherever Osauron bin Laden is), but last time I checked, Afghanistan is well on its way towards slipping into chaos itself.

Hey, Rick the Dick, you work for Sauron. And the Eye of the One Eyed Trouser Snake is focused straight on the fascist House majority. Which ain't so straight, it would appear. Bye, Rick. See you on KKK Street.

Mr Santorum doesn't see the difference between WWII and the Iraq debacle. One was a declared war with sacrifices at home, 1 million men in the field, a plan for victory and competent leaders -- both poltical and military. The other was not.

Can't we just throw Santorum and his ilk into Mt. Doom and be done with it? Tolkien should be rolling in his grave right about now...

...if he's putting that idiotic, ham-handed spin on Tolkien's imagery. If there is a candidate for Sauron's seat, it certainly would not be filled by the terroritsts. It's OUR country that's going around bludgeoning other nations into doing our will and conducting their affairs according to our standards. WE are the ones waving a huge stick at people and demanding they behave the way we tell them to.

And by the way, the Courier Times knows about as much about The Lord of the Rings as Santorum does. The Eye was not "a tool" used by Sauron - it was Sauron. It was the symbolic representation of him that people saw in their minds' eyes whenever he made contact with them. No one except his highest lieutenants ever saw Sauron in the flesh, because he stayed in his tower. (Except poor ol' Gollum, of course - he got to see Sauron when he had the pleasure of being apprehended as a possible spy and tortured for his information. Gee, sound familiar?) "The Eye" was Sauron's own power of perception ranging over the world to seek out his enemies.

Next time you want a correct interpretation of Tolkien, Salon, ask somebody who actually knows what he's talking about - ask a reader of his books, not some media flunky who'll regurgitate the movie plot at you.

That war is over for 61 years and 5 month, yet US Troops are still stationed in Germany. Germany was democractic before Hitler and has resumed this type of government for the past 60 years. Iraq never was a democracy and probably never will be. Things are proceeding under occupation and racial and sectarian hatred present among the three groups of people in the country. The religious divide among the three groups stands in the way of a viable nation. Afterall the country was an artifical creation post WW I when the Ottoman Empire was divided to suit the interests of Britain and France and the creation of the state of Turkey as the primary remnant of the empire. Britain withdrew from Iraq when this place became ungovernable due to stubborn resistance by the populace against the occupiers of that time. It seems nothing has changed since then, except the hatred along the sectarian divide has led to terrorism as never before. The difference between the occupation of Germany and Iraq is that the Germans were glad to be rid of an oppressive regime and truly looked at the Allies as liberators after 5 and 1/2 years of a war started by their own government. US troops were safe in Germany since the surrender of Germany and are still looked upon as friends (which does not apply to the Bush government) while that may never be the case in Iraq, even after 50 years. You have to be an incredible optimist to assume anything different.

I wonder if it would be fair to compare Santorum to Boromir. He's been enticed to the dark side by force of the evil eye and while Boromir was ready to sell out his friends for power, Santorum is doing the same to his country. Boromir came around and ended up taking a sword for the good guys. I wonder if Santorum would ever do that for his country.

Happily, it looks like Santorum will be losing his seat in November.

WWII could be won. We had a clearly defined goal and the means to achieve it.

Iraq is NOT ours to win - it is the Iraqis. Even if they choose not to, it is theirs. We cannot win because we cannot take ownership.

Think about this...

The British oligarchy of the rich (like the "investors" in Halliburton) have in some sense refused to accept their losses, refused to accept personal responsibility for their failures.

So now, Halliburton has placed the United States (a loss for the "investors") in the position of fighting both the Afghans (3 lost Afghan Wars) and Iraq (a post-WWI loss).

Nice work if you can get it..

So, is the Asian crisis merely the warm up to a fight to retake Hong Kong?