Tony, I agree with your comment regarding “the similar imaginary borders and ROE that did us so much harm… in Vietnam.” The Taliban use the sanctuary of Pakistan as did the Vietcong in Cambodia and Laos from which to plan and launch attacks. To my mind that destroys the concept of sanctuary (and possibly sovereignty) and makes it enemy terrain, pure and simple. But what to do about that state of affairs is perhaps not so pure and simple.

Iraq was never Vietnam, much as the major media might have liked it to become. The irony is that so many in this country pretended an allegiance to the fight for Afghanistan as a way to protest our commitment in Iraq, never suspecting Afghanistan all along held the real potential to become the quagmire they feared. It’s quite possible ten years from now Iraq will be universally acknowledged a success while Afghanistan still struggles. Those who wanted to prematurely leave Iraq because it was a distraction from the war they said they supported will probably wish they could go back and choose over.