Tom Foreman | BIO
AC360° Correspondent

Reporter's Note: With American help, the U.N.-sanctioned attacks on Libya have begun.

Dear Mr. President,

I can imagine nothing more difficult for any American president than making the decision to go to war - whether for a few days or for much longer. And of course, that is part of the challenge. It is hard to know once shooting begins just when and where it will end and, amid this new fighting in Libya, that is on my mind.

If we had some way of putting a stopwatch on these matters, I'm sure it would be easier to choose our course of action. I suppose if President George W. Bush knew precisely how Iraq would turn out, perhaps his ideas about that war would have been different. I'm not saying he would not have invaded, but maybe things would have played out in another way. (And I should note, as I often do, we still don't have any guarantees about the future there.)
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