re: #229 lawhawk

But for the massive spending on entitlements, including the massive expansion of Medicare prescription drug program, the trillion dollars would be much less. Also, that ignores the very real cost of thwarting terrorism by eliminating a key sponsor and maintaining forces in a region that harbors terrorists. So, while the cost is quite high monetarily and while 5,000 soldiers killed in service to this country is high (but by historical standards of warfare, exceedingly low), it is a just cause.

Saddam Hussein had no affiliations with Al-Qaeda or terrorism. The man was a dictator who maintained a cult of personality. Islamic fundamentalism was the single greatest threat to his regime being deposed. Not only did he not sponsor Islamic terrorism, he would have brutally murdered any suspected Islamic fundamentalists he discovered within Iraq.