This is as true in everyday life as it is in battle: we are given one life and the decision is ours whether to wait for circumstances to make up our mind or whether to act and in acting to live.

Even those who like me believe that Roe v. Wade and the decisions elaborating on reproductive rights were constitutionally correct must recognize that for many on the right the sudden and relatively sloppily reasoned character of the abortion rulings... did real damage to the Court's reputation as a relatively neutral arbiter of legal disputes.

Human-rights advocates for example claim that the mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners is of a piece with President Bush's 2002 decision to deny al Qaeda and Taliban fighters the legal status of prisoners of war under the Geneva Conventions.

I have had many occasions this year where I questioned and second-guessed my decision in a game but it comes down to learning from mistakes and being accountable for what you did right or did wrong.

Information is a source of learning. But unless it is organized processed and available to the right people in a format for decision making it is a burden not a benefit.

Making a wrong decision is understandable. Refusing to search continually for learning is not.

We are the creative force of our life and through our own decisions rather than our conditions if we carefully learn to do certain things we can accomplish those goals.

You have to enable and empower people to make decisions independent of you. As I've learned each person on a team is an extension of your leadership if they feel empowered by you they will magnify your power to lead.

In any case decisions on troop levels in the American system of government are not made by any general or set of generals but by the civilian leadership of the war effort.

The conduct of President Bush's war of choice has been plagued with incompetent civilian leadership decisions that have cost many lives and rendered the war on and occupation of Iraq a strategic policy disaster for the United States.