I think you are giving these sinister guys too much credit for caring more about our country than their sick egos. Lets look at Cheney and his 1994 TV comments where he concisely laid out all the reasons not to go on to Baghdad (invade). You can tell by his facial features and subsequent actions that he did not believe what he was saying. He strongly opposed Scowcroft and those wiser advisors who saw the needless, death, destruction and greater problems that Cheney’s get rid of Saddam course would create.

From that point, Cheney vowed in his no one gets the better of me mind to one day prove them wrong and when he was asked to run the operation to select a VP candidate for junior, he leapt at the chance to take the job himself and become the foreign policy and military genius that would show everyone how to “colonize” the Middle East and control the oil. No doubt, he was very influential in selecting Rumsfeld to run roughshod over our military. Of course the Israelis were also feeding this monster from very early on. These players with other people and nation’s lives also knew that the weak psychologically insecure mind of junior was ripe for manipulation and neocon success.

If we don’t recognize what rogues have taken over our country, we will merrily role along into more disasters like Iran. Giving them credit to think like we do is very dangerous.

The only way I know of to make Iraq work is Joe Biden’s federalized partition. Prior to our invasion, Iraq was three entities, Sunni, Shi’a and Kurd and a country in name only held together through Saddam tyranny. To me the best of the worst choices is to separate the enemies like we did in the Balkans. There are already millions displaced and the separation is well underway. I understand that there are Iraqis that thought we would help them create a secular Iraq. I’m afraid that hope is dead for a long time to come.

You are probably right, but I prefer hearing your excellent thoughts without interruptions by having to defend yourself too many times. Before acting on your defense impulse, you might consider if you are letting yourself become an unnecessary victim and giving those who just want to irritate you more power than they deserve. Your thoughts and insights speak well for themselves.

My agreement was only on making Iraq work or to put it my way, the best way to hurt the least people after so much damage has been done. Michael, as usual, you have stated your position extremely well and I very much agree with you.

If the Iraqis thought the same way you and I do, I might agree. They don’t and I don’t agree with your solution. When you operate under a religious mind control and have a history of so much violence and rule by power and revenge, it will take far too long for them to learn to get along.

In the military world that I know, there is no such thing as a former Marine or ex-Marine. You are a Marine for life, so either you are an imposter or you resisted becoming a Marine, no small feat, and still served your time. Which is it? And why is anger and invective enjoyable?

Oops.

“Is it just me, or does anyone else sense a little 'hubris' here? A whiff of 'superiority'? A little 'stereotyping'?”

“Some call it 'Americenticism', others call it 'American exceptionalism', I call it the reason why Americans are not liked . . .”

It was not my intention to convey that I feel in any way superior, nor as an American exceptional. I was trying to say we see our worlds differently. Yes our society is far too violent. Yes it is often necessary to do some generalizing and stereotyping when trying to make a point and not writing a college thesis.

Having spent 15 years overseas and being married to a Japanese, I am very well aware of how way too many Americans act and feel superior overseas and refuse to understand a culture from anything but their viewpoint. That was the point I was trying to make. We got into this Iraq mess precisely because of what you are accusing me of. Try reading the other pieces I wrote and if you find facts for your opinion, please provide them.

Whether you are an American or Iraqi religious fundamentalist or raised in the controlling society of Japan, your see a black and white world and find it hard to not feel superior to anyone that does not support your beliefs. It is very hard to use logic and reason when that is the case. Try being married to someone for 39 years and find yourself wrong in every disagreement because the person is not able to agree to disagree.

It wasn’t meant as a test and you shouldn’t give a shit. I take your point about former, however, I have gotten crap from a Marine even when I used former, but I think my brain was a bit too tired when I wrote that comment. Maybe I should have read that book too. In my later years I have learned a lot about what I don’t like about the military-industrial complex and war machine.

There are a lot of commenters like Kitt who enjoy venting. If you can’t take what is handed out, you shouldn’t participate.