Recently, cjcampbell posted:

Jose wrote:
I suspect that 2,539 (plus 3 more today) American families think we
have already lost.

Agreed. But that's the way it is in all wars.

Including wars we shouldn't be in.


Now you have me curious. I have no dog in this fight, you understand.
I have committed myself towards working for peace. Nevertheless, I am
well aware that I am able to do so only because there are others who
are willing to break the peace in order to protect the lives of me, my
family, and all that I know.

But you appear to think that there are wars we should be in. Which are
those? Can you think of a single argument in favor of going to war
with, say, Hitler or Tojo that does not apply equally well to Saddam,
Kim Il Sung, the leaders of Iran, or of Somalia?

(rest snipped for brevity)

The differences between these examples are significant, and IMO, those
that can't tell the difference are those that believe any aggressive
action can be justified after-the-fact. Before *any* action was taken,
Hitler attacked other nations. The case could be made that action could
have been taken to stop Hitler sooner; so history taught us that lesson.
Tojo's direct attack of the US is the reason we retaliated; we didn't do
so on the mere notion that he may have had the capability to attack us and
might have wanted to.

As soon as Hussein attacked Kuwait it was time to move. The world agreed,
and he was immediately suppressed; Hussein posed no *real* threat to
anyone since that time.

Iran is a situation where we are still experiencing the repercussions from
our fiddling with their government since the early '50s. That mistake has
cost us dearly in the region, and we have little choice but to ride it
out. Sadly, our attack of Iraq has only complicated matters and created
new problem that will have repercussions for decades (if not centuries) to
come.

Korea is another situation where the world has contained the aggression of
the North, and won't really do much beyond that. Those living in the
region have the most at risk, and they do not appear to be of the opinion
that NK should be attacked a la Iraq. "Most thinking people" would agree.

I don't believe that wars will end in our lifetime, but I do think that we
can act more responsibly than we have acted by attacking Iraq. It was a
stupid, ill-informed move, and compounding that with other stupid,
ill-informed moves won't make matters better.

Neil