I hope this is the only thing I need to publish on the subject. We are at war. While I don't especially like this war, I think it could have good consequences, so I am reluctantly and hesitantly behind it. I hear the phrase "support our troops" and I'm not sure what that means; I'm not going to walk around chanting "U.S.A., U.S.A." or hoping they "kick ass", because chanting is not my style and I don't believe civilized nations are in the business of "kicking ass". I hope as few of them are killed, gassed, or horribly mangled in this war as humanly possible, and I hope the same for troops and civilians of all countries involved. I hope Saddam Hussein is ousted and replaced with a government that will behave better toward its own people and the world community. But you will not hear me say that the reason I support our troops is because they are in Iraq defending America, or defending our freedom. Make no mistake about it--we are not playing defense in this war. We are playing offense, and in most of our military engagements of the last century, we have played offense. So don't talk to me about how our military is out there to defend us, because quite simply that has not been its primary role and it is not in this case either. I don't say this as cynically as I used to, because I now understand better the merits at times of playing offense. I don't mean it as a sneer or as sarcasm--it is simply a fact.