Speaking as someone who has studied this quite a bit, who has many friends serving in Iraq and other places, I can tell you that this situation is far too complex to reduce to a one-liner. The leaders of Iran believe that the apocalypse is nigh and that it is their duty to sow chaos through the middle east, specifically Iraq, to hasten it's approach. They believe that the United States is essentially the Antichrist and must be destroyed at any cost. This is a belief shared by many of the terrorist groups which we are fighting. The leaders of France are corrupt and gladly sell out the future of the free world for a little extra coin in their pockets. As for Russia, Putin wants the cold war back. That's the only thing I can come up with to explain the way he's been acting lately. Iraq is *not* in the middle of a civil war. Most of the people doing the fighting are foreign nationals, primarily from Iran. Ditto for the majority of the weapons being used. Many IEDs are not improvised at all. Lately when our troops have moved into an area to clean it up, the first question the local leaders ask is "are you staying?" And when the answer is yes they stand up for themselves and expose the terrorists, foreign fighters and weapons caches they know about. The lack of progress on an Iraqi constitution is somewhat troubling, yes. But consider, it took us ten years to write ours, and we didn't have terrorists from another country trying to destroy us. There's more, but anyone who actually cares can find the information themselves, and I don't feel like wasting my time typing things that many people won't believe anyway. The Wizard's First Rule is a major irritation in the real world. Might want to look that up too while you're at it. Now to the quote. Personally I don't think habeas corpus should ever be suspended for American citizens. However, I also think that when we catch someone who is supporting the terrorist organizations that seek the destruction of this country we should try them for treason, and if they are found guilty we should arrange for a public execution. We are the only country in the world which guarantees rights to its citizens. All the others of which I am aware enumerate the rights of their citizens with the caveat that they may be revoked at the whim of the government. We must protect ourselves from those who would destroy us, but we must not destroy ourselves to do it.