Don't take Americans for granted!

The American people have been suffering a bum wrap for far too long. Let's get what's wrong ... right.

We've been accused of being unable to sustain our patience/determination/fortitude when we are at war. Furthermore, Americans lack the stamina. Americans are isolationists. Americans have gone soft.

This is hogwash.

Altogether too much frivolous fretting is devoted by politicians to our image abroad. Images are easily distorted in the minds of the envious or those sickeningly jealous of our past pre-eminence. No matter how much money you spend in your efforts to be loved, being all things to all people is as hypocritical as it is myopic.

The respect we devote to others is the respect others must devote to us. A superpower has every right to expect that. Failing to gain that equity has made us what other generations called the "laughing stock" of the world. And why not? How many slaps across Uncle Sam's face does it take?

Americans, in particular, don't like wars, especially those our military are committed to but not allowed to win. And wars lacking the objective of winning are not worth entering. The same pertains to spending years absorbing the casualties of our boots-on-the-ground policy wherein we ensure the safety of civilian lives in enemy territory. This is especially meaningless when we have the technological equipment in hand to minimize our casualties, and this is without the use of nuclear weapons.

Americans have lost patience with the concept of limited war by any other name. And why shouldn't we? Korea was the initial effort in this respect. Victory was bypassed for a truce. North Korean violations have been and are the consequential result to this very moment.

Americans don't accept wars that are more political in nature and less a direct threat to the United States. Americans are spent out on nation building. And why shouldn't we be? All we need do is glance around and survey our infrastructure. It's deteriorating at an alarming and accelerating rate.

We've been at war, in an extremely limited sense, in Afghanistan for eight years. Soon we'll have a whisper less than 100,000 Americans in uniform protecting Kandahar, Kabul, the Pakistani-Afghanistan border regions, ad absurdum. It's claimed we'll be protecting the Afghan people and training the Afghans to fight against the Taliban, but only for another 18 months. You heard the president. Those troops are going to be coming home beginning in July 2011. Now that's important because the Afghanis are going to be "trained" our way.

Afghan fighters have a heritage of repelling great armies and hordes through the centuries. Are the good Afghans suffering some mystical disadvantage when they fight other Afghans who are Taliban troops. They are every bit as familiar with their country's terrain as the "bad" guys. Are their populations more likely to favor the Taliban or their fighters? Why is it, we begin these conflicts with our troops inevitably at the tip of the spearhead no matter where the battlefield?

Now our president is wearing the horse collar that goes with this war. He earned this set of spurs in his campaign last year. It took Barack Obama several months of soul searching, meetings, talking, listening, strategizing and then deciding a refinement of the strategy he'd already announced last March. He also had something very important to consider. He's up for re-election in 2012. He wants to be reelected but more and more he's confronted by issues so complicated there may be too few answers to their resolution.

In this respect, his July 2011 deadline may be exactly what is needed. I know. This contradicts all conventional wisdom. We've never tried it before. Why? The guilt-ridden excuse is others will lose confidence in our staying power. Obama's decision in this respect could be a stroke of strength. He's let the Afghan people know Americans' patience is not limitless. Now he has to tighten his belt and make this deadline credible. No leaking along the way that we may have to extend our stay. Afghanistan, Pakistan and not to be forgotten, India, have to accept our pre-dated departure. So, too, must al-Qaida and the Taliban. It's possible they could decide to quiet down and conserve their manpower and enjoy a breathing spell. Excellent! This would aid and abet our "training" operations and greatly reduce our loss of lives.

Most of all, the credible deadline is a wake-up call. With utter and unsuspected clarity, it translates into the Afghan army and police force best pull up their socks and not take until the deadline to demonstrate what they want for their people and themselves.

This, fellow Americans, is a change in strategy and in my view worth the price of commission.

No, Americans don't like losing or wasting the lives of so many for so little. They also want relief from the human cost and degradations of these back to back "limited conflicts."

Americans can be tough when they have to. They can accept rationing. They can accept the draft. They can forgo new cars, new homes, all they want to eat and drink, not vacationing and accepting the casualties incident to a real victory.

Just try us!