Edit: Sorry on how this sounded. Was just trying to bring up some points.
No need to apologize, you bring up some excellent points and presented them perfectly. I just wish I had more time to address them.
Regarding the safety of the military's hardware. Well, it wouldn't be the first time or last time that there have been problems with it. My point was that the military has developed laser guided missles and GPS weapons to reduce the amount of civilian casulties (ok, one of the reasons). Are there problems with the batteries? I don't know. I suppose. One could comb through the military's weapons and probably find lots of problems. One item that comes to mind was the Harrier jet that that the Marines like to use because of it's vertical take-off and landing capabilites. But it's been linked to numerous accidents and deaths. But what's the point?
And I'll also agree with your points about lobbists and their interests. But this has been true in just about every war. To me it simply comes down to this:
Is Iraq a threat to the US? Yes. Plain and simple. If Saddam's not stopped now, we'll have another NK on our hands. A perfect example is Bill Clinton dropping the ball back in '94. History is repeating itself. And if the citizens of Iraq benefit, all the more power to us.
Will the Arabs be mad at us? But they are already. If we take Saddam out they'll be mad and fearful, which to me is better then mad and thinking that the US has lost it's will to defend itself.
