[DeltAlum]

Nice to have a polite disagreement.

I stick to misled (it's more PC than "lied to"), and I think that Richard Clarke and other former administration people's contention that the Bush Administration were totally preoccupied with Iraq will prove true in the end. I also think that hindsite will show that the "proof" of WMD's was slanted purposely. If we are looking in the wrong place, that's a tragedy because we've now lost over 500 US Military lives because of that mistake. Which takes me back to the preoccupation argument above.

I absolutely agree that now that we've gone this far we can't just walk away from Iraq. I can't get the image out of my mind of the US helicopters evacuating people from the roof of the Saigon Embassy. Not the same situation at all, of course, but a time where we left a political vacuum that guaranteed victory for the other side.

I understand the Chamberlain comment, but I don't think it's really the same situation. Spain is fighting it's own battle with the Basques. The Spanish government simply was not in favor of the way we prosecuted the war -- without the UN or whomever. A lot of other governments felt the same way -- as did a fair percentage of their populations if you believe the surveys.

Finally, given the turmoil in the UK regarding the whole WMD Intelligence fiasco, I'm not sure I buy that other intelligence agencies believed in the whole WMD senario.

Anyway, I've been wrong before, and as I said in the beginning, these are only my opinions and certainly not presented as facts.