when I think of the hundreds of trillions of dollars we will continue to pour into Iraq, while meanwhile Chrystler is slated to lay off another 20,000 workers, it just makes me wonder if there could have been a more efficient and effective way of going about toppling this regime.

I thought the war in iraq and the war on terror were 2 seperate wars. Great spin doctors on that one.

And of course I am going to be called out on ""crying over spilled milk" again with my "would-haves and should-haves".  

Bono! with his $300 U2 tickets!!!

oh the irony!

We certainly are. Hold on to your hats kids, its gonna be a  rough ride.

Okay... I can't resist throwing in on this one... There has been turmoil in the Middle East since there has been more than one person in the Middle East.  It does not matter who is in office here in the US or in any other nation in the world.  It does not matter who is running what country over there, fundamentally there are various religious and ethnic groups in that very small area of the world who intensely dislike each other.  One of the very few points they actually agree on is they hate us even more than they hate each other.

With that said, anyone who didn't see the handwriting on the wall when Bush became President the first time was just living in denial.  Something big, bad, and very expensive was going to happen to Iraq because Saddam tried to kill G.W.'s dad.  9/11 opened the door to getting us over to the Middle East in military force.  It was an easy sell to go stomp the crud out of Afghanistan for harboring Al Quaeda. The most peace loving people I know were all for it. If you didn't know that when we went to Afghanistan that Iraq was next, then you weren't just in denial, you were in a coma. After all, if you are in the neighborhood why not visit the neighbors?

Please don't imagine for a minute that Osama Bin Laden didn't know he was taking a stick to a hornet's nest when he approved the 9/11 attack.  It was his intent. Despite years and years of weak response to attacks on US territories and citizens, he knew this was going to draw a major response. This is the same thing the Japanese did by attacking Pearl Harbor in WWII. In drawing us directly into the Middle East's existing war he now has the best advertizing campaign for his cause he could hope for.  Recruitment is WAY up for him, as are potential funding sources. Bush happily played along because it suited his goal... get the guy who tried to kill his dad.

The Democrats voted for this war just like the Republicans.  Now that it is tremendously unpopular here at home, the Dems are making excuses for voting the way they did and the Reps are going wishy washy to try to win votes back. What it comes down to is we are there and we best plan to be there for the long haul. That region has never really been stable, and it's certainly not going to get better any time soon no matter who is in office. There is no good answer here.  If we stay there we will incur more debt and loss of life over there.  If we pull out we will incur more debt and loss of life right here.  At this point, we might as well resume the bombing. That was the most effective thing we've done so far.

I dont think there would have been a politically expedient reason to go over there without 911. We are over there to combat terrorists or those who harbor terrorists.

You dont marshall hundreds of thousands of men and women and allocate billions of dollars for a fight unless there is political capital to spend as well.

We are over there for alot of reasons....all having to do with the war on terror. Mema, you made some good points about Osama trying to draw us into his conflict and that was a great analogy to the Japanese and Pearl Harbor.

If the world would have stopped Hitler in 1933, he could have been stopped pretty quickly...the world waited until 1939 and it took the whole world to stop him. If we would have addressed terrorism when it reared its ugly head in 72 at the Munich games and the Arabs were making their entrance on the world stage with newfound oil wealth, the problem wouldnt be nearly as insideous.

Mema is right...this is a long standing fight between factions in the Middle east...and one of our allies, Israel, is seldom mentioned but very much a reason we are The Great Satan to the Muslim nations. Israel's elimination is the sworn goal of all of the terrorist countries which largely destabilizes the region.

This is a complex situation. Does oil play a part...yes. Does religious intolerance play a part...very much so. Introducing democracy to this region is not going to be easy...but in the long run it is the right move.

Wow, my hats off to your nephew Mad.

A lot of kids enlist during peace time, figuring they'll get a good education and see the world, without being in harms way too much.

To enlist right now is truly a sacrafice.

Thanks.  I truly respect Alex's decision to enlist.  The funny thing is that he was not pressured in the least to do so.  It was all his own decision.  I guess it is a hard destiny to escape when your father, step-father, uncle, and grandfather all went that route. Still, as I told him, it is a man sized decision to make especially in a time of war.

I can absolutely understand why lots of people want us to pull out, particularly those who have had loved ones killed or injured in this endeavor, or who even just have to worry about someone over there. The thing is that you have to look beyond your own personal interests and look at the greater picture of what is going on in the world.  Clearly the situation in the Middle East is going to demand to be dealt with. As we are the world's policemen, we can't ignore it or hide from it.  I will be devastated if Alex ends up paying the ultimate price, but I will never feel badly about his decision to support his country.