Is there any Justification for the Iraq War?
After the Viet Nam war was over, Colin Powell wrote some basic rules so that such an engagement and loss of life and our economic structure would not happen again. This is now known as the Powell Doctrine. In short, you can find a good overview of this at:
The basic principles are: Never commit military resources unless you have a clear national resolve, widespread support, and a clear exit strategy. Then you commit overwhelming military force. If you are going to commit our military, you don’t do it piecemeal, and you don’t do it by mission creep. You do it quickly and efficiently.
President Bush & company violated all of these in going into Iraq and some of these when going into Afghanistan. As a result, there is an incredible loss of trust. Over and over again. How long will we let them fumble the ball?