Mike, I think Clinton's "keep them in a bottle" policy on Iraq was not wrong for the time. Yep, I think any president would have done the Taliban thing. I don't know if Clinton would have then used that as an excuse to go over Saddam afterwards. But again, I'm not sure how necessary it was even now. And yes, that's mindful of our hindsight on WMDs.
As to the way you think of Clinton, I think the same of Bush.
As to Alex and his 200,000 terrorists ... sorry man, you have to understand Muslim extremists -- hell, all terrorist extremists -- know one thing only, strength. If you scale back the fight, they think you are cowards. If you talk of peace, they think you are cowards.
These are NOT people you can put your little Daisy in their rifles and think they won't blow your head off -- they will. Is it ashame that the enlightened have to resort to the ways of the primative? It is ashame overall peaceful people have to resort to the ways of violence. Yes, it is ashame. It is also the only language they understand. It is also Life. So get your head out of the sand and recognize it!