All quiet on the Mid-Eastern Front

So all I've been hearing about recently is how Iraq is teetering on the brink of civil war. Talk about overkill. Yes people got pissed off when their mosque blew up, but as has been shown, the political and religious leaders of Iraq have managed to convince their followers that knocking eachother off like flies is the wrong way to go about airing their differences. Sure it still happens, but understand, this is the only way that things have been happening in this country for the last 20 plus years. As far as I'm concerned, the fact that there isn't a civil war already can be chalked up as a victory for Iraq, the US, and democracy and the fact that it's been averted after terrorists blew up the Golden Mosque only proves the shared success of the coalition and the new Iraq government.

Now for politics back home: the port deal. I'll start off by saying, we NEED to do this. Doing it will not compromise our security, all that changes is logo and name on the paychecks. Not doing it sends a messege to Arab nations that we don't like them because they look and sound like people who don't like us. This may suprise some people who know me, but we need to be winning hearts and minds right now. We've won the war in Iraq and we're winning the war on terrorism. We have the ability to win any war that we engage in, that's not the point. The point is winning the war before it starts. We can do that by showing how successful things can be in Iraq and how we're open to working with Arabs. This can't be a "love-'em-and-leave-'em" kind of operation. I'm not suggesting that we run their government for them, just that we Americans don't isolate ourselves from the Arab world and remove their options for airing their grievances with us. What I'm getting at is that we are, and need to continue to be, able to win wars, but if we can get what we want without compromising this ability or our national integrity and security or sending military force into the fray, why not?

I had a lot more on my mind, but I'm having trouble getting it out clearly so I'm just going to call it good. Maybe trying to think on this level this late in the day isn't a good idea. =P