The reason we are there now is because Hussein refused to cooperate with UN sanctions and faced "drastic measures".

Which the UN did not agree with.

We are not taking him down because we put him up.

I disagree, obviously. He wouldn't be up high enough to bother us if we hadn't bought the ladder for him.

We're taking him down because he is an international criminal,

To whom we sold or gave the wherewithal to achieve that stature, and from whom we turned a blind eye when it suited us, thus making us accessories to his crimes.

and was a known threat to the security of the United States of America.

"Known" to some, allegedly; believed by many, apparently. I am not one of either of those groups. The standards of evidence have not yet been met to my satisfaction. Neither rumor, conjecture, nor assertion is evidence. I'll not rule it out. I would, however, appreciate it as a citizen who feels responsible for the actions of my elected representatives, whether I cast a vote in their favor or not, and as a voter, if the alleged knowledge were shared with the rest of us poor rubes who obviously are viewed as untrustworthy. If there is something to these assertions, let's have it. Now. I'm heartily sick of the connect-the-dots game being played in the conservative coloring books, with a chorus of "Yeah, that's the ticket" sounding antiphonally from the faithful.

Your statement that no deaths are considered inconsequential is a generous one that I would expect from you. I would also expect the same response from most of our soldiers on the ground over there, being decent souls who encounter the suffering first-hand. I refer to the parade of articles celebrating the "light" loss of life written by people who are not there to see the impact of those light losses in the eyes of the people who loved them. If I read the phrase "You can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs" one more time in reference to death in wartime, and especially to civilian casualties, I will scream, and you will hear it in Ohio. It was (and continues to be, but we hear it less) disrespectful and dehumanizing for the dead and their families. But I tend to look at statistics and wish for portraits. This is a weakness in my outlook that I have no desire or incentive to correct.

Regarding "success": We can celebrate a surgeon for his skill if we wish, but he still inflicts a wound and is paid handsomely for his trouble. We celebrate the patient for the recovery, because he is the one who suffered and endured, he is the one who completed the therapy after the doctor got a check and walked out of his life, and he is the one who didn't give up.

Regards--
Mary Anne