It seems that when I said "You seem unclear on the nature of conscience", I missed the mark. You actually seem unclear on the very nature of a free society. Your response reeks of the attitude of someone happy in a totalitarian society, worshiping Authority and The State. "Bush is the Commander in Cheif and YOU aren't. If you were the President of the US, THEN you could make this call" indeed. gb, you and I personally are responsible for the actions of the officials we elect. We have a duty as citizens of a free society to object when our elected officials do the wrong thing.

The demand that anyone who thinks Bush is doing the wrong thing come up with an alternative is a red herring. Picking the best course of action is Bush's job, and when he fails to do his job we have a right to say so. Besides, telling the truth about the emperor wearing no clothes is the necessary first step to change; to fail to point out the error allows him to continue on his misguided course with no thought, himself, of alternatives.

But OK, we can play that game. Now that Bush's specious claims about WMD and a connection to Al Qaeda haven't stood up to scrutiny, and we have information we were denied before the war, it's actually rather easy to outline what course Bush should have taken. For starts, don't invade Iraq; without the promised piles of WMD and high-level connection to Al Qaeda, Iraq was not a clear and present danger. Instead, stay the course in Afghanistan, go after the thousands of Al Qaeda and tens of thousands of Taliban we knew were there, and still are; don't go chasing mirages in Iraq.

That wasn't so hard, now was it?

Conscience is not the opposite of herd phenemenon. Nor does it mean disagreeing with the majority. It is not neccessarily cowardice to keep quiet and hope to be proven wrong. And finally, you can exercise your conscience and keep your head down.

Wrong. Absolutely wrong. You will never possess a conscience, let alone exercize it, if you think that it depends on going along with the majority and keeping quiet if your conscience might offend the herd. That's the coward's way out, and cowards cannot possess consciences.