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["Rob Walton" <waltonrp AT gmail.com>]

I am not a big supporter of what our country is doing in Iraq.

I would like to think that as a nation the response would be different if we 
were under attack from a clear enemy. I'd like to think that our people 
would rally and concentrate on victory.

However, I cannot imagine most of the current population enduring shortages, 
rationing and other day to day inconveniences that people endured in the 
40s. Maybe down deep these sniveling, latte slurping folks are stronger than 
they seem.

What we have accomplished in Iraq, is to demonstrate our complete inability 
to fight a ground war. We have bared our weakness to the world and now have 
to reap the consequences; this is only a start.

Rob - Va

>

Most Asian officials have expressed their views
privately. Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara has
gone public, warning that the United States would lose any war with China.

"In any case, if tension between the United
States and China heightens, if each side pulls
the trigger, though it may not be stretched to
nuclear weapons, and the wider hostilities
expand, I believe America cannot win as it has a
civic society that must adhere to the value of
respecting lives," Mr. Ishihara said in an
address to the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International 
Studies.

Mr. Ishihara said U.S. ground forces, with the
exception of the Marines, are "extremely
incompetent" and would be unable to stem a
Chinese conventional attack. Indeed, he asserted
that China would not hesitate to use nuclear
weapons against Asian and American cities-even at
the risk of a massive U.S. retaliation.

The governor said the U.S. military could not
counter a wave of millions of Chinese soldiers
prepared to die in any onslaught against U.S.
forces. After 2,000 casualties, he said, the U.S.
military would be forced to withdraw.

"Therefore, we need to consider other means to
counter China," he said. "The step we should be
taking against China, I believe, is economic containment."

Officials acknowledge that Mr. Ishihara's views
reflect the widespread skepticism of U.S.
military capabilities in such countries as
Australia, India, Japan, Singapore and South
Korea. They said the U.S.-led war in Iraq has
pointed to the American weakness in low-tech warfare.

"When we can't even control parts of Anbar, they
get the message loud and clear," an official
said, referring to the flashpoint province in western Iraq.

As a result, Asian allies of the United States
are quietly preparing to bolster their militaries
independent of Washington. So far, the Bush
administration has been strongly opposed to an
indigenous Japanese defense capability, fearing
it would lead to the expulsion of the U.S. military presence from that 
country.

On Nov. 16, Mr. Bush met with Japanese Prime
Minister Junichiro Koizumi. The two leaders
discussed the realignment of the U.S. military
presence in Japan and Tokyo's troop deployment in Iraq.

During his visit to Washington in early November,
Mr. Ishihara met senior U.S. defense officials.
They included talks with U.S. Defense Deputy
Undersecretary for Asian and Pacific Affairs
Richard Lawless to discuss the realignment of the
U.S. military presence in Japan.

For his part, Mr. Ishihara does not see China as
evolving into a stable democracy with free elections.

"I believe such predictions are totally wrong," Mr. Ishihara said.