PASSINGS: AMERICA'S LAST FLAG OFFICER TO ACTUALLY WIN A WAR

Wesley L. McDonald, 84, the admiral who led the 1983 Grenada invasion, the last war America has won since WWII, has died. As the Washington Post reports, it was a stunning victory: "About 6,000 U.S. soldiers and Marines overwhelmed the 1,200 Grenadians and 780 Cubans in the waning days of October 1983. Adm. McDonald told the Senate Armed Services Committee several months later that despite inaccurate maps, problems with radio communications between different forces and the barring of press coverage during the invasion, Operation Urgent Fury was 'a complete success.'

Some might argue that the Panama invasion was a similar triumph, but that overlooks the fact that one major goal there was to end the government involved drug trade there. We basically replaced one enabler - Noriega - with another. Not only is Panama still a major drug trading center, it still uses the constitution drafted for a dictatorship.