Five years

I did not support entering into Iraq. I did not believe that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction. I did not believe that he was partying with Osama.

Now that you are through cussin' me out read on.

Today I am of the opinion that the only course for the U.S. is to win in Iraq. To win that means that all forms of terrorism there must be crushed. If that means turning Tehran into a glass crater, well, better there than Jerusalem.

This war is not Vietnam. The Vietnamese were and have not followed us back to attack us. The powers that keep up the fighting in Iraq have already visited destruction on our own shores and will do so again if they win in Iraq.

I support using any and all means necessary to win this war. If that means a draft then Uncle Sam knows where to find an RN who can also shoot and salute. I'm many years older than when I had U.S. Army stamped on my chest but I'm also trained to give medications, change bandages and other valuable skills. I don't have to be able to run fast to patrol a ward full of wounded.

I say this because we face an enemy more lethal than any we have ever faced before. Time was distance was our ally. We found out that distance has shrank a great deal back in 2001.

We must become the sort of nation we never were. Hardened to war. We face an enemy with no head so we must kill all the tentacles. We must burn them out when and where we find them. We must not let sentiment or sympathy stay our hand. Our enemy uses that to weaken us so he may strike when our backs are turned.

We must win in Iraq to give our nation time to wake up. To throw off the lazy dream of "liberalism" like a too heavy comforter and face the cold dawn.

If we do not win in Iraq and we do not throw off that too heavy comforter it will become our burial shroud.