Finally

Make no mistake about it. I am a hawk. And the use of the AC-130 gunship in Africa was the right use of US military force. It sent the right message. The target(s) were people who blew up US embassies in Africa. If they were allowed to establish their bases in Somalia, I guarantee it wouldn't be long before some of the stable African governments would end up like Iraq.

Unlike many of the "yaps" you see on television, I lived in Africa. I also have been in other "troubled" parts of the world and I can assure you, many of those places may as well be on the moon. I also believe the Philippines will soon become a a "desired" base of operations for al-Quida. (The officer who got our parking place in Manila died when his car blew up in that spot a few weeks after I left.)

Iraq is a different matter. I hate the moments of silence that end The News Hour on PBS when they show those young soldiers, sailors, and airmen who have died in Iraq. We have blown it big time in that operation. That being said, I am still a hawk about it. The US cannot fight anymore "nice guy" wars. We need to be very hesitant to use our forces but when we do, they have to be unleashed. We won World War II because we used what needed to be used to end it.

I am tired of the loss of young Americans because the military is afraid of what will show up on the evening news. Remove the reporters and get the job done and then bring our kids home.
We wouldn't be sending gunships into Somalia if we had done that in the first place.