The hard thing to do is normally the right thing.
Perhaps Steny Hoyer should concede that we are in a war and casualties are to be expected.   We have been inundated with the media coverage on the body count of Americans.  While the deaths of American military personnel are not to be discounted, all of us in the Armed Services know that our lives may be placed in jeopardy. Joining the military during a time of war is a courageous act that is also not to be discounted.
Our military members are sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers.  They are also of the age of majority; men and women, capable of determining their own course of action.  When they sign up for military service, they know that they are to be trained as warriors to defend our nation.  There is no room for cowardice in the U.S. Armed Services. 
In Vietnam, the idea was to count the casualties on both sides, causing lies and inaccuracy on both sides.  Our media is sheltering the American people from knowing the casualties of and by the terrorists.  Civilians make "soft" targets and the terrorists kill them to serve their purpose, sometimes out of hate or vengeance, sometimes as a warning to others.  I have served in Iraq and have seen the daily body counts the terrorists incur on civilians.  I can assure you that we are not the "bad guys" in Iraq.
The Iraqi people now have self-determination, if they can only remove themselves of their predisposition for corruption and religious and ethnic bigotry.  They have not been allowed to taste true freedom until now.  We should stay the course until the government is stable enough to carry on with a democratic process.  Rep. Hoyer is lucky not to be a politician in Iraq.  He has the freedom to say and do whatever he pleases here.  He can play the partisan and be an armchair commander.  Politicians in Iraq have to deal with daily assassination attempts and, for the first time, have to deal with others that have a different ethnic or religious background.  It was a different story under Saddam.  Sunni's ruled and the rest had to tow the Sunni (Ba'athist) political line. I hope that we can make a permanent difference in the Middle East, but quitting is too easy.  The hard thing to do is normally the right thing.
MSgt Bruce Templeman

The Night After 9/11
The night after 9/11 Osama Bin Laden tossed and turned in bed, realizing the New York attack had done nothing for his cause. Killed a bunch of innocent people, that’s all, and increased sympathy for America around the world. Osama lay there disgusted with himself. All he'd done is alienate moderate Islamists who would otherwise be critical of the West – be critical, had he not just sent 3000 people to their deaths. Osama was sleepless. First of all, to wage a Holy War, troops must have training, preferably training in real-life battle. Of course, blowing up buildings in New York doesn't clear out a nice sandbox for you to engaging American troops and hone your skills as an army. Secondly, blowing up two buildings full of people doesn't gain you many supporters, so how could Osama recruit for his army? Osama lay thinking, and realized he wasn't the only player in the Middle East. The big man about town, Saddam Hussein, despised Islamic fundamentalists about as much as America did, and sadly it looked like he’d be around for a while. What's worse, Osama's Afghan allies, the Taliban, could be easily routed in a quick war, in which the Americans would emerge popular and respected in the region. So under a starry sky, Osama thought to himself, could 9/11 have been a blunder?
Then Osama hit on it. He sat up, a smile on his face. Get America to invade Iraq! How simple! Furthermore, get them to do it on the cheap, building into a long, drawn-out conflict with mounting casualties on both sides, the innocent with the guilty, which would frustrate Americans and enrage the world. Osama grew excited, realizing just how many problems could be solved in one stroke, if only the Americans would go for it. Without Saddam in the region, who'd be left to oppose him? If Osama's troops could slip into Iraq and engage American forces, they'd get the practice they need to become a military threat. Most importantly, if Americans killed innocent civilians, Osama would have his recruitment tool. He'd only have to point out America's acts of war, and young Islamist recruits would flock to his cause. Even better, if America became preoccupied in Iraq, they'd forget about Afghanistan, which would allow Osama's allies to creep back in and set up shop virtually unopposed.
Ah, but Osama realized he was running away with himself. The American people would never allow their leaders to overthrow an ally against fundamentalism and leave the Iranians unopposed. Nor would they let the Republicans shift focus away from his home in Afghanistan and invade Iraq, a nation that had nothing to do with 9/11. Not even Americans are that dumb.
Osama sighed and fell sleep, sad and dejected. For a few minutes there, it looked like it was all going to be so easy.
Jamie Esquire