Lets consider for a second the two major conflicts America is fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. As of today, the out of pocket costs of those two wars is in excess of $900 billion.

Two economists, Nobel prize winner Joseph Stiglitz and Harvard professor Linda Bilmes have estimated that in between the incurred future costs of veterans benefits, interest on the debt created from funding the war, the forgone use of resources that would have gone for more productive purposes and other costs amount to $3 trillion! Our government has wasted lives and treasure on wars that have served no discernible benefit to the American people. The only folks who benefit here is the military/industrial/financial complex that President Eisenhower warned us about in his farewell address.

It is now a proven fact that the US invasion of Iraq was based on lies and deception. The only real immediate beneficiaries of this war were the armaments industry, the oil industry, Blackwater, Halliburton, and Muslim extremists who used our wars in the region as recruitment tools. No one else gained any benefit here. Iraq was a threat to no one and finding Saddam Hussein and hanging him after a politically motivated trial had no effect on ending the war in Iraq.

The cost of our wars are a huge burden on our country, which is already struggling under the weight of other debts. The War in Iraq by itself has lasted longer than WW2, yet the main outcome has been a Shi'ite dominated government that's closely aligned with Iran.

Obama, for all his campaign promises to end the war in Iraq, has escalated another one in Afghanistan and started a new one in Pakistan which has already displaced 2 million people and threatens to destabilize a nuclear armed country. The Caucasus is still a hotbed of superpower confrontation between the US and Russia that can escalate into an all out proxy conflict at any point.

Never mind that we really can't afford these wars, how about the threat they pose to international security? We seem to be playing with fire here on many different fronts.

I'll rate it a four in importance since it's a fait accompli. It exists and it requires that we deal with it. I have a problem with calling it a war, however. It was an invasion followed by an occupation followed by an insurgency and before too long.. a three sided civil war between Kurds, Sunnis and Shiites. This thing will be haunting us for some time to come.

I'm not sure how you can separate a Clear and Present Danger argument from the WMD argument. Iraq was sold as a clear & present danger precisely because of their alleged WMD programs (which subsequently turned out not to exist). Anyone who tries to say that WMDs weren't the main case for the war (at least as it was sold to the American public) either wasn't listening, or is offering revisionist history. Just ask Colin Powell. That being said, I understand the geopolitical reasons for the war. I understand why the idea of a stable, functioning democracy right smack in the middle of a fundamentalist region that also sits on 2/3 of the world's oil is extremely attractive. I also understand that Saddam was a monster and the world is better off without him. Because of these reasons, I have never been dead set against the war - just concerned about the rule of law implications of rushing into a preemptive, unprovoked invasion of a sovereign country without the support of many of our allies. That being said, the Iraq War remains a critical issue and we should continue to be there until Talabani's government says that they don't need us there any more.

Ah, the know-it-all peaceniks are out in force, congratulating themselves for predicting that the war might not be as tidy as say, World War II or the Gulf War was. This war was about a clear and present danger to the United States, in the interpretation of the US President and his cabinet. Not WMD's, not a flawed battle plan, not a lack of planning. They cite polls. The polls say Americans don't like the war, therefore, we should just pull out! Right. Jump up and down, pound the table, stamp your feet and shake your fists about lies! LIES! LIES!!! Look, this is about the establishment of a 2nd democracy in the Middle East. A democracy that defies the seemingly unbreakable stranglehold of terrorists and tyrants over these people for the past 50 years, and beyond. A cruel and murderous dictator, who killed literally millions of his own citizens, has been removed and will be tried for his crimes. Terrorists are flocking to Iraq, murdering innocent Iraqis every day and the Iraqi people turned out to vote in numbers that should shame every American, and they voted in direct defiance of the threat of a bloody death. But we should pull out, like we did in Vietnam, and let the terrorists have their way. Geez.

I will never agree with this war. We were led to believe that Saddam posed a direct threat to the U.S. on U.S. soil. That would have justified a war, had it been true. No weapons were ever found, nor has anything ELSE been found that posed a threat to us. DickDirk says Saddam needed to go, but doesn't say why? Did we have to send in the military to accomplish this? Was the reason so important that 1500 soldiers had to give their lives? Is it worth the money that we've spent to date?

. . .yeah, you remeber this, right? It was about the weapons that don't exist and the guy who we haven't found yet in ANOTHER country (Bin Laden). . .invading another country because your conscience or god tells you to is exactly what Bin Laden did - any difference kids? When did America become the land of easily-led sheep? Had enough or are you thirsty for more?

It's time to end the train wreck. The longer it continues the more vulnerable the US becomes. We are having record problems recruiting people to serve in the Armed Forces because fewer and fewer people are continuing support for a war that just doesnt make any sense. All the reasons (save removing Saddam, which is a year past) have turned out to be wrong. America cannot dictate to other cultures on how to conduct their society. Iraq will NEVER be a true democracy. This isnt about freeing the Iraqis from domination. Its about positioning the US in the Middle East, thats it. Otherwise our troops would have been pulled out a long time ago.