Yeah, right. The opponents of this war opposed the number of soldiers that were sent as it was. And the cost would have been greater too - "I voted for the 87 billion, before I voted against it".
I deleted a bunch of stuff that I actually agree with - and you didn't get in to hysterics, so you never lost me. :-)
Yes we do. We are there to fill the vacuum left by Hussein, with a stable, pro-American (quasi)democracy (little d). It's part of a geo-political strategy in that region, which will pressure the governments of Iran and Syria to move in the same direction. I'm not saying this will work, but that is why we are there at this point.
Nope. I wouldn't agree with that part at all.
As for the war, just to be clear of where I stand. I only supported it based on the premise of an "imminent threat". There was no imminent threat, so hindsight, I have to say that going in there in the first place was unjustified and wrong. But, let's spread the blame here - Saddam didn't help his case much. You don't play chicken with a hawkish administration after the largest terrorist attack against the US ever.
I also must say that I have problems with the growth of presidential power to deploy military forces without a declaration of war. This precedent was terrible to set, and has been exercised far too many times since WWII. I would prefer some type of constitutional amendment to prevent this in the future. And again, the blame is to share here. Congress is run by a bunch of self-serving cowards who simultaneously don't want to be on record for voting *for* a declaration of war, *nor* voting against funding military operations like this.
enjoy your evening folks... I'm outta here.