[Randallw]

I am pleasantly surprised whenever I come across a novel where the military is portrayed as wiser than the politicians. You'd think Authors would get into trouble with the thoughpolice portraying peaceloving politicians as idiots, but I keep finding novels where the politicians insist on making peace with aliens who have destroyed numerous border colonies

"surely there is a misunderstanding. If we sit down and discuss things surely they will call off their pledge to exterminate us"

or

"Well we have defeated the genocidal aliens once, surely they will now be willing to talk peace"

and the military have to take matters into their own hands.