"If Bush can not find a political selling point for this war, it will be viewed as an illegitimate and unjustified war. Globally, that will cast us in the role of the Soviets and the Nazis and the very tyranny we are going to war against(True or false, thats what will be seen). This will have a lasting and negative effect on our foreign policy and how other nations deal with us- How many Big Deals are Boeing or other American companies going to loose becuase foreign governments don't want to be seen doing business with us?"

Since when if a war illegitimate or unjustified because a nation can't "sell" it to certain others in the international community? It's far, far more important for America to do whatever it takes to protect her security than to worry what ignorant, corrupt, or just purely jealous parties overseas may view us. Do you seriously think that the families of the Sep. 11th victims would have cared one damn bit if America had bombed Afghanistan BEFORE Sep. 11th, even if that would have been seen by others overseas as "illegitimate and unjustified"?!? Both terrorist groups and terror states, including Saddam's Iraq, pose a grave and growing threat to the civilized world, and must be dealt with, as soon as possible. Also, foreign governments in the Middle-east curse us up and down then turn around and sell us all the oil we want for big bucks. Don't confuse their shallow political rhetoric with the reality of lucrative business deals.

"Saddam is scum, and for the right reasons and in the right global context, I will support (gladly) a war with Iraq to remove him.... Bush has failed to provide these reasons and he damn sure has put us in a situation where, if we go to war, we will damage our country severely. "

This is totally false. The Bush administration has provided powerful and compelling arguments for the removal of Saddam. Colin Powell gave a great presentation before the UN but it seems like a lot of peole must have slept through it. You fail to realize that most opposition to the war effort isn't at all due to the strength or weakness of the arguments. Most of it is due to the disturbing realization, in the minds of many, that the US just may be powerful enough to pull it off. It scares many states that the US is the sole superpower in the world. Most of the opposition among Arab and other Muslim states is due to the dread fear that the existence of a new, free, democratic Iraq would put pressure on them to reform their barbaric, despotic regimes. That's tough language but it's absolutely true.

"Yes, of course we will stomp the Iraqi army. Yes, of course we will win. Yes, I am sure some Iraqis will welcome us as heroes. But every casualty we inflict will be seen on the same level, by the world, as a dead Jew in a concentration camp or A dead Russian Serf on the plains of Stalinist Russia, or a dead british soldier at Dunkirk. If we can't change world opinion, and go to war, thats how this will be written about in the history books of 4/5ths the worlds population. That is serious business for our nation. Just ask an older german"

Dead Jews in concentration camps? This analogy of yours is simply obscene. Here's a brutal butcher called Saddam Hussein who's responsible for the deaths of over a million people, and you think our efforts to disarm him, remove him and liberate Iraq, and provide their people with a chance for a better future, would make us look like Nazis in the eyes of the world?? Not unless the world is insane.

"Russia lost the cold war, at least in part, because it failed to be seen as the 'right' side of the dichotomy. We are about to put on the mantle of the 'great satan' that our terrorist foes have been trying to force on us- and the funny thing is, in the end, we will do it willingly."

Completely false. The Soviet Union lost the Cold War because the ideological foundation of communism was fundamentally incompatible with basic human nature, and the artificial system could only be sustained through brutal coercion, which couldn't be kept up forever. It was doomed to failure, and the impressions or views of outsiders were largely irrelevent. The views of the unfortunate Soviet citizens imprisioned inside the totalitarian system were far more relevant. Heck, pretty of European leftists had warm, niave feelings towards the Soviets but in the end it didn't help them one bit.