Val: So you assume that my views are instilled in me since childhood and/or are faithbased? My mother was actually a Democrat until last year (she is fed up with democrat disloyalty--her words). My father is non-political, and does not vote. Up until the year 2000 I was a Liberal Republican, and it was not until I encountered the massive liberal bias at my school and saw how wrong liberalism is that I became more conservative. Also, I am an ultra-conservative and a Christian but not a Christian conservative. There is a difference. I administer my international views based on what I have researched or am researching. What history has shown us, and what trends may show us. I do not base my decisions on the Bible.

As for the Siskund report, I read the first 2 pages of it and promise you I shall read the remainder by Friday night.

Over the summer I read Bob Woodward's Plan of Attack twice and felt Bush did underestimate the post-war effort by insurgents. The US comitted 2 errors at the onset of war. First, the troops failed to secure the borders. Sewcond, the Iraqi army was dissolved and disbanded.

However, after reading the book, I felt that the US government and the UN really believed Saddam was hiding something, and Bush could not risk inaction if Saddam were to have sold something to al-Qaeda. The fear was real and it affected all levels of government and all branches of National Security. American-backed spies in Iraq (IRAQSTAR) really believed Saddam had a stash of armaments, espcially concentrated in the direction of Mosul in the north and Um Qasr in the south;two directions from which an offensive might come through.

In World War II we underestimated Japanese troop numbers on Iwo Jima, and German stregth at Kasserine, we failed to clear the Normandy beachhead of artillery and pillboxes...should we have called for Roosevelt's resignation?

Liberals feel that the military cannot make mistakes and are quick to blame the President. This is war people. This is exactly what I was referring to one of my last posts. We live in a society where we expect success 100% of the time. Troops are under pressure, intelligence can change rapidly, the enemy may predict our motives and change their plans etc etc. It is a miracle that the victory in Iraq was the fastest in modern history.

Also, why are anti-war activists and their liberal allies claiming that sanctions on Iraq were working and that they should have been continued instead of going to war? These are the same people who in the mid-1990s claimed that the sanctions were killing thousands of children a year due to lack of supply.

Nu2Salt: I am sorry if I did not see JFM's previous posts. I have skipped around on this post mainly because it is so long. In the words of Doc Holliday on Tombstone "There...now we can friends again."