The scary thing about this is that civil war may well be a necessary part of building a true democracy from scratch. Perhaps the attempt to build one without civil war is noble enough to try it again and again. But we must recognize when we’ve reached the point of diminishing returns. We are past that point now.

Furthermore, for as long as we stay, and not matter how noble our efforts, we influence the political outcome in ways that must be worked out later—potentially in another civil war.

Although I’m not a fan of John Kerry, I do believe that his voice, along with others like McCain’s and Murtha’s should be honored well above those who never went to war. On the other hand, those voices with potential economic or political motives should be ignored. In fact, voices like these may be the only true voices.

bill