Indeed! We are well-protected, and sometimes forget that the world we know would be very different without the efforts of those far away who are putting themselves on the line.

Thank you.

I concur. Wholeheartedly.

Something too many people take for granted these days, I thank you.

I agree wholeheartedly. As a Canadian I would like to also say thanks to my and my allies men and women in Afghanistan.

Dying for state interests = Libertarian?

Dying for western civilisations interests = admirable. You may think libertarian = suicidal but I like to think otherwise. Nevertheless your sort of moonbattery is why I tend not to use the L word much as of late.

If 9/11 was not aggression then it is hard to know what is - which is why Ron Paul voted for the war in Afghanistan (he is not a total Rothbardian).

Iraq was a different matter in 2003 (although Saddam DID finance operations against the West, although not 9/11).

However, now the fight there is against the same enemy as it is in Afghanistan.

Against that interpretation of Islam (Sunni or Shia) that holds that all non Muslims and moderate Muslims (including in the United States NOT just in the Middle East) should be murdered or enslaved.

In this respect the war may be more confusing than Korea or Vietnam - in that it is not a matter of "Communist or non Communist" it is a matter of different sorts of Muslim (and not even Sunni and Shia - as the line cuts across both groups).

However, some of the people who opposed the Vietnam war (and I believe that Dale was one of these people) would still have wished the troops well.

One can oppose a policy - whilst still wishing the troops well.

In short anyone who is not prepared to say "Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year" to the troops in both Afghanistan and Iraq, is an arsehole.

People should have a right to be arseholes - but when someone is an arsehole they should be described as such.

"Arsehole" not "Libertarian".

Happy New Year to the men and women in very difficult conditions.

Indeed. Even in my wild eyed youth I was shocked at the allegations of the then young John Kerry, so much so that when he ran for President I voted for George Bush just to do my part to make damn sure he never put his backside on the Presidential desk chair.

It is one thing to hold a strong policy opinion. It is quite another to be a total... as Paul put ... arsehole. (or asshole, depending on your continent of residence).

And of course, anyone who has been reading Samizdata over any period of time knows there ain't nobody here but us hawks.