[peregrine]

I'll agree that Afghanistan was justifiable, and I'll agree that terrorism needs to be fought, hell, I'll even say that going into Iraq had decent reasons behind it (good enough reasons - I'm not so sure, but there were reasons).... of course it would have been better if Iraq just up and attacked... France or somebody (however unlikely it was) to garner more international support.

But what I can't stand is how the "war" is being handled, all this patriotism, hero-medal-handing-out and buzzwording (Operation Iraqi Freedom, Home Land Security.... shiest, what 3rd grader came up with these? At least "Desert Storm" sounded cool) is just driving me sick. Also, when you're fighting terrorists, you don't sit out in the open making yourself a target (like our soldiers are doing now), guerilla tactics require a change in strategy, and the fact that we've still got bodybags coming back daily shows something ain't goin right. As somebody previously said, "use a scalple, not a hammer," and I couldn't agree more. We should have assisted Iraq in rebelling against Saddam, not doing it for them. As far as the torture and mass-murdering goes.. no matter how horrible it was, if a populace won't rise against it, they probably can't govern themselves effectively.

Another point about how the war was/is being run... the cost. The figure being tossed around is 150 Billion, that's obscene. Not only were we in a economic depression, and GWB had just issued tax cuts, but now we've got a bill like that to pay off? There goes Clinton's headway into the national debt. Now our grandkids are going to be paying for all the defaceit spending going on.