[GAsux]

Kev,
Thanks for your input. I don't disagree with a lot of it. As for Iran, I'm on the fence as to whether it's worth it or not. I don't at all underestimate the potential and for a variety of reasons I personally see the risk posed by Iran being far greater than that of say North Korea, but that's for another thread entirely.

My only input here is that whether it is right or wrong, a conflict with Iran will be vastly more economically, strategically, and humanitarianly ( ok so thats not really a word) more costly than anything we've dealt with in the last three decades. And that cost, in my mind, must be weighed with the benefit or the effect on the stated goal, in this case being the reduction of terrorism. In my opinion such a conflict would only be marginally beneficial and not worth the cost.

As far as the discussion with Ant, I realized that the point I was making was probably taken a bit out of context so I'll refrain from debating WWII history as it's the topic we started with. My only point there was that as a soldier, the moral justification for war in Europe was much more compelling then it is in Iraq or would be in say, Iran.

When a soldier goes to war facing the risk of giving his life, he is much more apt to go honorably when he feels that it is for the greater good. Such was the case in the European campaign of WWII (whether real or imagined, I'll leave you to debate). Its much more difficult to convince yourself that the sacrifices are worth it when you're potential giving up your life for a "potential threat" no matter how ominious that threat appears to be.