Originally Posted by SteveZ

This makes me think back to a time 6 1/2 years ago when the US was shocked and made to feel more vulnerable than ever in my lifetime. There was many a chorus shouting for the government to find those responsible for the horror and take every step, reasonable and unreasonable, to insure no more harm befell any American on American soil. There was a national cry to "make them pay" whomever they were, for the anguish, damage and pain. It was loud, it was constant, and it was everywhere.

The focus for all blame fell upon the Mideast. Those who administered the terror came (or had ties) across the Mideast, and there were many who wanted a broadbrush smashing of everything, every place and everyone who could be involved in our national moment of horror.

Memories tend to get selective in the passage of time.

The bottom line was, the administration had to act, as expediently as possible, to demonstrate the United States was not a toothless tiger and would definitely bite back - hard and tough - when wounded. The concern that more attacks like 9/11's may be right around the corner was trumpeted in every newspaper and TV news show. So, with the evidence at hand (no matter how much one wants to Monday-morning quarterback the choice) the Commander-in-Chief unleashed the armed forces at the biggest bully on the Mideast block who had a history of bloodying those around him/them, had a human rights violation record equal to Hitler's, and had publically announced the intention of harming the United States as a national policy. The Mideast governments whose citizenry were among the terrorist cowards unilaterally turned a blind eye to finding or assisting to find those who attacked us, and to this day have not taken anything close to military, economic or social measures to mitigate such terror.

So, Iraq got tagged. A diabolical regime with a history of genocide, using chemical weapons on its neighbors and citizens, and using its military in roles which made the Nazi SS seem tame got kicked and kicked hard. The biggest of the bullies got its teeth knocked out, and justifiably so for its role as an "accessory before the fact."

Perhaps the biggest problem with the Iraq War is its timing. Today's generation doesn't remember WWII, Pearl Harbor, Nazi Germany or Tojo's Japan. That's "history" to almost all of us.

At Pearl Harbor, the casualty totals were approximately 2,500 killed and 1,200 wounded, depending on whose records you review.

On 9/11, the casualty totals were approximately 3,000 killed and 6,200 injured.

Pearl Harbor was the catalyst to US military commitment to WWII, and the goal was to retaliate for a heinous attack on US soil and to eliminate from the face of the earth the diabolical regimes which aligned to reek such misery, havoc, human rights violations, et al.

The cost to the United States for WWII was astronomical in comparison to Iraq and Afghanistan, and we found ourselves occupying, combatting internal factions there, and nation-building (politically and industrially) for close to three decades before things started to really level out.

Would it be nice if the finances necessary to continue Iraq/Afghanistan could be spent elsewhere within the nation? Sure it would. I'll bet my parents and others probably wished that it wasn't necessary to spend their taxes on WWII costs - from 12/07/1941 through the 1970s. That money, or a lot of it, could also have bought a lot of schools and infrastructure, but at what inevitable price?