Maverick,

These pretty much mirror my thoughts on the grey area that exists in situations like this...

So many people want to make things black and white and the complexity of life just doesn't allow that. Also, experience speaks a different language than perception.

The only point I may argue is whether or not contractors such as Haliburton, Blackwater, etc would actively push a war. I think you might give people too much credit on that one.

Other than that, I feel your post is pretty much spot on and a good show of the delicate balance that exists.

At the end of the day many of the republicans are eating dinner and having beers with many of the democrats. They're one in the same if you ask me minus a few ridiculous (in the big scheme of things) contention points they use to hold sway over a certain group of people and their ideologies. They put on an intricate play, but in the end, the power players want very similar things, otherwise I don't know that we'd ever have moved very far in any particular direction, what with all the filibusters and hold-outs and drama that we are privy to through our "news" outlets.