Will ....
Yeah what about Vietnam?? If more Americans would have stood up to their government and said this war was wrong, less Americans would have lost their lives.
You are correct. Also, if Kennedy was running the show after 1963, I believe he would have gotten out of that area. One final point ... if America truly went to war in Vietnam instead of fumbling the political ball, they would have been able to win the war and saved many American lives.
The "fog of war" is a phrase I like the best. It suits this situation well. The "Carter doctrine" is the foreign policy the American's are using. And the American government, for political reasons cannot afford another terrorost attack on its land. It must look like its doing something - no matter what. It will take out those countries it feels can harm it the most because they feel they are at war right now and it will try to rationalize and justify with what ever methods (rightly or wrongly) it comes up with. That is the "fog of war" - right Hillary Step?
This dictator is pond scum in my mind and truly does need to be replaced. The problem in my mind is and always has to be .... "the end game". What are we replacing him with and what kind of investment are we going to be looking at over the years. Is it worth having tens of thousands of troops in the area or not? What is going to happen to the troops exposed to the chemical weapons. What is going to happen to the oil fields (that are under extreme high pressure and have much more explosive methane gas and posionous/explosive hydrogen sulphide gas compared to the Kuwait wells) that will be demolished.
The "facts" of the matter are we are already at war. Iraq's weapons have fired on the coalition planes over the years and the air forces are bombing different places in Iraq. American and British special forces are already in the country. As with any war there will be those videos like the "Highway of Hell" from the 1991 Gulf War.
It should be noted that the facts of the matter are no matter if we do or don't attack Iraq, those Arabs who take issue with Israel (and not Saudia Arabia) are going to come after the USA. Just like the USA, OBL or other terrorist will use whatever rationalization (may it be troops in Saudia Arabia or Israel or we are rich nations or whatever) to "unleash hell".
Whether this war is right or not - that issue was settled about two months ago ... The war has begun and the major battle is about to start - rightly or wrongly.
Its time to stop ... no matter what side you are on ... and support our troops who are risking their lives for your freedom.
As for the peace activitists etc .... they should and will be allowed to protest. To prevent the protests is wrong and it would be polticial suicide.
hawk