Hey Folks: The way I see it, if someone can start a thread offering to trade tapes of bums fighting, I can certainly offer a public opinion about this situation. As a younger person, I used to laugh when I heard older guys talk about what they would like to do "if they were 20 years younger". Now that I am one of those "older guys", I understand a little bit better what they were talking about. a little more than 30 years ago, I enlisted and went through hell (in fact part of it was called "hell week") after a neighbor appeared at my parent's doorstep, crying because her husband had been shot down and killed over a rice paddy in vietnam. I never forgot what her face looked like, and I imagine she never got over that experience. I don't have much hope that politicians will get the message and make use of the 3,500 very well trained spec soldiers who could really make a difference. Instead they send national guardsmen (men & women) who train just a few weeks a year, and put them in harm's way. Now they are ending up hostages while these morons talk about how they won't negotiate. This is pretty damn pathetic. Thanks, Steve46