If I've learned nothing else over the years, I've learned that nothing is as simple as you'd like it. To blame "the guns-and-ammo manufacturers' lobby" for the US murder rate is as simplistic a statement as to maintain that the "No Child Left Behind Act" will solve the problems in the educational system. To say, "bring the troops home NOW" shows a simplistic solution to a complex problem (correct thinking would have not only asked this question in the beginning, but would have prefaced it with "why send them in the first place?") -- to do so would cost more lives than would be saved on both the Iraqi and Coalition sides, as a retreat in haste always costs more lives than a planned withdrawal over time.

Another thing I've learned is to stop trying to find someone to blame and instead find a solution -- and to learn from the mistake that was made. Politicians don't ever seems to learn this.