[speeder]

Let me see if I can make my position so clear that even a tree stump could understand it:

I was 100% opposed to invading Iraq before even one single American or innocent Iraqi life was lost. I did not believe for a second that Iraq was behind 9/11 or was any threat to America, and did not consider it worth one (1) good life lost. If we could kill Saddam and his sons somehow with a laser-guided bomb, great. I could care less about his life and he deserves to die. But no more than a lot of other bad actors in the world. (Africa, anyone)? I was not worried about his presumed chemical weapons, any use of such against the West or Israel would guarantee his immediate demise.

And yes, I care about the lives lost. Deeply. I care about one single Iraqi baby or one single U.S. Marine or soldier, even if it is someone who would be my smart-ass adversary here on this board mocking my views. I mean this whole-heartedly. If you don't believe me, you are cynical beyond hope. The loss of a young person, (or anyone), that you love is a life-changing tragedy that is usually the worst thing that other family members ever experience in this earthly existence. If it happens in a road accident, (bicycle), it would be horrific but at least possibly explained by the "act of God/his time to go" clause. To have a young son or daughter die in the occupation of Iraq that never should have happened and that's been horribly and incompetently mismanaged by fools who cannot change course FOR POLITICAL REASONS would give me brain cancer or suicide. It would be the worst thing imaginable. How anyone can be alright with it, just because they are not your relatives, is stupifying. You are using their deaths for your lame partisan "argument" on this internet board.

The supposed difference between the West and Israel is the value that we place on human life. I fully understand that when someone volunteers for the military they are agreeing to fight if called upon, but there is an implicit understanding in the civilised nations that they will not be used as cannon fodder or kept in an insanely dangerous place with no clear mission or for some goofy, mad political scientist experiment like the neocons hatched in Iraq. It's as if they said, "we have this powerful military at our disposal now and an agenda we've been dying to implement for ages, this is our chance. Let's hope it goes well, but if it doesn't, hey, that's the breaks..."

With other people's lives and tax money.