sarah >>But if the German plan comes to anything, it might just be possible to avoid it all.<<
this is my great hope...i saw news clip of the pope in baghdad last night...it is the first time i ever cheered for the pope...lol...as far as a 'bloodless' war is concerned, here is an excerpt from a letter written by Charles Sheehan-Miles, one of the founders of http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/ "Twelve years ago, in February of 1991, I crossed the border between Saudi Arabia and Iraq with the 24th Infantry Division. Back then I was a 20-year-old Abrams tank crewman, and I fought in several battles in southern Iraq. I can say from personal experience, the media got it wrong. The first Gulf War wasn't clean, it wasn't pretty, and it wasn't precise. In the chaos and destruction of battle, anything can happen. We killed a lot of people. Like many of the men and women I served with, I do not believe that President Bush or Secretary of State Powell, in his presentation at the United Nations on Wednesday, has made the case that Iraq poses an imminent threat to the United States. Without proving imminent threat, the administration has failed outright to justify its rush to war. Many senior military leaders, including Generals Norman Schwarzkopf, Anthony Zinni and Wesley Clark, have all questioned the wisdom of another war with Iraq. Thousands of veterans of all U.S. wars have stepped forward, marched in demonstrations and raised their voices to say that the nation they defended should not be attacking other nations. There is no sense of just cause in the U.S. armed forces today. Most recently we veterans have been joined in our message by families with loved ones in the military."