Dear Derb, Sorry I’m late getting back to you on your post from the other day on Iraq. First, like you I’m willing to defer to the experts on ARVN–and there are more points of view than that of Lewis Sorley. On Iraq: OK, so I take it you want us to kill every jihadi in Iraq and without kidding ourselves that the Iraqis can provide any useful help? That’s a position, and one very easy to understand. But I can understand why some people have been confused by your positions on Iraq. I seem to remember–and I’m working from memory here, so feel free to correct me and my apologies if I’m wrong about any of this–not too long ago you were in favor of pulling out from Iraq after the election. It was always a mystery to me why we would bother to spend so much blood and treasure in helping them to hold an election then immediately pull-out afterward, leaving the government to collapse (given that in your view it has no competent security forces nor any hope of getting any). I also seem to remember you advocated at some point “a fighting retreat”–which would have been a retreat in the face of jihadis. I also recall that you once thought Iraq was an intolerable burden on the US military that would make it hard for us to fight anywhere else. But you now you say you want us to kill all jihadis in Iraq indefinitely with no help from Iraqi forces and without trying to train any. That has the merit of being a very clear position.