"2) I see the net saving of lives was ignored once again. What does 200,000 - 2300 equal?"

Mark, C'mon- Ethics 101. We don't kill 5 people to save 10. If we did, we would be doing lethal medical experiments on inmates and all sorets of other Nazi-like crap. You know that responsible moral adults can't advocate the willful and intentional killing of 1000 people to save 10,000 or even 100,000.

I mean, this is really fundamental!

" I did not say I agreed with the dumb comment. It is dumb precisely because it is a gross distortion of public opinion."

Which is the gross distortion- that this war is about liberation or that it is not? Its not clear. That the administration calls the conflice "Iraqi Freedom" makes it seem like our official stance is that it is ABOUT the liberation of Iraq.

"8) Naw. Our allies should feel free to disagree. They just shouldn't do it for selfish reasons while claiming altruistic
ones. "

Ah, wait a second. The same charge is EASILY leveled at the US. Our allies are against this, we disregard them, call them irrelevant and then we claim altruistic reasons (liberation of Iraq) to justify our behavior... 100% consistent with your criticism? Where am I wrong?

"Clinton and Carter vs Reagan & Bush 2 are stark contrasts in how men of intellect can accomplish so little when more modestly endowed brains can do much with people skills and conviction. "

Actually, Clinton and Carter had massively effective terms. You may hate them and everything they did, but they got A LOT of bills through congress and MAJOR changes enacted. Carter and Clinton also both had large impacts on foreign affairs and the geo-political landscape. Again, hate them if you will, but they got a lot done. Yes, so did Reagan and Nixon.

"We didn't install Mubarek, or the kings of Jordan and Saudi Arabia. We have supported them all and none are anywhere near as brutal as Saddam. "

Its arguable that ANY of those clowns would be in power without us- Mubarek is case-in-point. How can you possibly support your claim about relative brutality? Saddam Gassed kurds, but Saudi Arabia has created a landless rights-less serf class in the middle of the modern era. Mubarek has HUGE jails filled to the brim with rotting political dissidents. Don't buy it.