ThiChi; I think you do have a problem with balanced viewpoints, and I think just as you speaking of a armchair generals is a good case of cooking impliments discussing relative degrees or carbonisation, so to is your accusations of underlying agendas. You seem to regard the campaign 'Enduring Freedom' more in the lights of 'Utter Absolution'.
I know that "No one on the US side wants to kill civilians" is a reasonable statement, what I don't see as reasonable is the lack of people saying, "that was a terrible mistake, how tragic, the troops goofed, what can be done to prevent civilian casualties like this happening"?
Everyone is so eager to say, hey, it's a war... civilians die, get over it. War is dehumanising enough to those on the front line, without those watching on TV shrugging glibly when children are decapitated by 50mm cannon shells and talking of a price you can bet they wouldn' want to pay for the greater good.
I can't and I won't 'get over it'. Oh, and your statement;
Using your reasoning, Hitler should have remained in power
... is a great example of your balance. Asking what ratio of coalition to civilian deaths is justifiable just cuts away the reams of bull that people come up with to ignore the blood of babies. I'm not saying 'stop the war' now the damn thing has started, I've always thought that this war was inevitable, but that the US were being illegally and unduely hasty. You allege in the above that saying mistakes should be owned up to and that the number of civilains dying should be kept to a minimum would have kept Hitler in power.
Yeah, and you're balanced. The very fact you are willing to make an ridiculous linkage to waht I say and Hitler just shows how far you are prepared to go in justification.
Sleep well at night...