Hixter

Yes, they did.

At that point the invasion was 6 weeks old, the Iraqi military had been vanquished and the insurgency had not yet begun. With American deaths from hostile fire numbering only 130, there was reason to be optimistic. Mishandling of the occupation and the tremendous looting immediately after the fall of the government handed the insurgency everything that it needed: money and explosives. No it hasn't.

You can't undo what has already been done, although I imagine that the administration would like to have a second chance at making the decision to pull out.

Yes, the two situations most certainly are comparable. Nothing good would have come from leaving Japan and Germany immediately after the cessation of hostilities and nothing good has come from leaving Iraq prematurely. You can't decimate a country militarily and remove its totalitarian government and then just walk away, or very bad things will ensue as the power vacuum is filled. It takes decades of military and political cooperation to negotiate a happy ending. The fact that swathes of Iraq are controlled by ISIS and that we have had to send in thousands of troops is a clear indicator that

A friend of mine was killed at the hands of Iranians and a friend of a friend is currently being held captive in Iran, so forgive me if I don't buy their faux peacefulness. By the way, "Death to America" refers to *all* of us.

Like it or not, it's how things like this work. Had we pulled out of Germany, Japan and South Korea immediately after the cessation of hostilities, the 60-70 years of peace and prosperity they've enjoyed would have been unlikely, if not impossible. (See what I did there?)

It depends on what the president wants to do. But had we kept about 30,000 troops there as a stabilization force ISIS wouldn't be in control of large swaths of Iraq. We still have tens of thousands of troops in Japan, South Korea and Germany more than half a century after the wars ended for a reason. Iraq should have been at least a 50-year commitment.

We currently have about 4000 troops in Iraq, so boots have been on the ground for quite some time. And, judging by the current situation, they're clearly not enough.

No he isn't. And if Charles Manson were leading the Unabomber and ISIS in a poll of Democrats he wouldn't be exposing the true nature of their party, either.

He said it was a piece of crap, too.

CNN Breaking News Alert: CNN will host the first Democratic presidential debate in Nevada on October 13, with the exact location to be unveiled in the coming weeks. CNN's first GOP debate airs on September 16 in California.

Likewise, but I have tickets for the first night in Austin and I'm not sure how they'll handle the new album during a multi-night stand.

I would imagine it's all up to the DNC. I don't think they've announced any debates yet.

The televised version of Ashes from the ACL broadcast is my favorite guitar solo of all time. Hands down.

There is no idiocy involved in wanting to dismantle a terrible "deal" that essentially costs the Iranian nuclear weapons program almost nothing while freeing up more than a hundred billion dollars to fund their dirty deeds in the region. It's unbelievable that the Obama administration is readying to release a convicted spy to Israel as a consolation prize while several Americans rot in Iranian prisons. One of them is a close friend of a close friend and I'm appalled that his release wasn't tied to the nuclear deal. The Saudis have already signaled that they intend to acquire nukes and at

That would be great! I have an extra copy of Nels' Stained Radiance DVD and I think I might have a spare signed copy of his CD with Julian Lage, if you'd like them. Thanks!

Made an unexpected trip to SoCal to visit my kids and grandson. Currently sipping a $13 Firestone Walker DBA in the shady seats at the Angels -Rangers game. Mike Trout is a beast and cracked a homer during his first at bat.

Decidedly non-partisan? Disclosure: The author of this post has previously written for and provided Web production services for OnEarth, a publication of the Natural Resources Defense Council, on a freelance basis.

Are they still up on Dime? I've been looking for the 2007 SBS video ever since I heard that a copy of the complete performance was in the wild. I was in the front row at the taping and wouldn't mind seeing it all again. The AGIB show was also very special. Mr. Cline's solo on Ashes of American Flags is my all-time favorite.

Just watched the final episode of the penultimate season of Parks and Recreation to re-watch the Land Ho performance at the Unity concert. As far as I know, the only pre-release glimpse we had of the new album was the performance of Pickled Ginger 15 months ago. Too bad they didn't work in a Star Wars reference and a cat.

There are also the numerous studies that have concluded that it's safe, including the new one from the EPA. But Russia and OPEC are pleased that their anti-fracking campaign is at least partly successful.

There's no lunacy surrounding fracking and I say this as someone whose only drinking water comes from an underwater aquifer mere miles from the largest fracking operation on the planet.

I'm in SoCal at the moment and I'd promised my 3-year-old grandson that we could walk down the street for donuts and he's getting impatient. Looks like they went online at 10:09. Not a very promising start with the new ticketing agency, but I managed to score the 3 tickets for the 29th that I'd wanted.

It's 10:05 in Texas and the presale still says "available soon." WTF?

The Austin shows worry me a little because I was hoping to hear the album played straight through and I doubt they'll do it two nights in a row. But who knows.