<p>Thomas Friedman's ideas about how to maintain American quality of life and pay for the war in Iraq. Thought provoking article. Here is an excerpt.</p>
<p>"...The struggle against radical Islam is the fight of our generation. We all need to pitch in - not charge it on our children's Visa cards. Previous American generations connected with our troops by making sacrifices at home - we've never passed on the entire cost of a war to the next generation, said Robert Hormats, vice chairman of Goldman Sachs International, who has written a history - "The Price of Liberty" - about how America has paid for its wars since 1776.</p>
<p>"In every major war we have fought in the 19th and 20th centuries," said Mr. Hormats, "Americans have been asked to pay higher taxes - and nonessential programs have been cut - to support the military effort. Yet during this Iraq war, taxes have been lowered and domestic spending has climbed. In contrast to World War I, World War II, the Korean War and Vietnam, for most Americans this conflict has entailed no economic sacrifice. The only people really sacrificing for this war are the troops and their families."</p>
<p>In his celebrated Farewell Address, Mr. Hormats noted, George Washington warned against "ungenerously throwing upon posterity the burdens we ourselves ought to bear."</p>
<p>As the war grinds through its fifth year, Fort Leavenworth has become a front line in the military's tension and soul-searching over Iraq. Here at the base on the bluffs above the Missouri River, once a frontier outpost that was a starting point for the Oregon Trail, rising young officers are on a different journey - an outspoken re-examination of their role in Iraq.</p>
<p>Charlie Rose: Let me move to you. You went to the Naval Academy for three years -- I mean for --</p>
<p>Erik Prince: Three semesters.</p>
<p>Charlie Rose: Three semesters, a year-and-a-half, then decided to leave. For what reason?</p>
<p>Erik Prince: You know, I went to the Naval Academy out of high school. I really wanted to be a Navy pilot, and I liked the Navy, but the Academy didn't agree with me so.</p>
<p>Charlie Rose: Why?</p>
<p>Erik Prince: There was -- I'm fine with rules and regulations. SEAL teams have a lot of those, as well, but the academic had kind of a distillation of a lot of other, you know, plebe-type regulations, the squaring corners, having to chew your food three times after -- if an upper classman asked you a question. There is a lot of other plebe-type rules and that just kind of chafed me, and I left, and I went to a civilian school with a plan to come back in the Navy through officer candidate school, and become a SEAL, and as it all turned out, and it worked.</p>