What's A Hawk To Do?

This sums up the present situation nicely:

For years, pro-war critics of the Bush administration have argued for more troops and a "green light" for the U.S. military to engage insurgents. They were stubbornly ignored, but still largely supported the President given the alternative. Now, once again, those who view the struggle against terrorism and Islamist fundamentalism as the calling of our time are presented with a choice between a flawed proposal for victory by President Bush that may be years too late, or a policy of accepting defeat and withdrawing erratically.

Americans don't as a rule want to go to war. Our troops train knowing that the next one will surely come, but we don't go about picking fights, as the Romans did.

The difference between hawks and doves in this country is that hawks believe 9/11 put paid to any alternatives to war in dealing with Islamic jihadists, while doves believe that America never has the moral authority to wage war, even in self-defense.

Our enemies, of course, intend to eat the doves.