It comes back to a couple of lines I have quoted before on other discussions. The first is from what may be called a folksong (to move this discussion slightly out of the "BS" category), "The worst of men must fight and the best of men must die." The other is reputed to have been said by Golda Meir to Anwar Sadat. I don't remember it precisely, but it was close to, "We can forgive you for killing our grandchildren. We cannot forgive you for forcing us to kill your grandchildren."

How will the "folks" feel about a government that forces our men and women to kill others' grandchildren? How will the "folks" feel about the officials who have been exempt from the killing and have exempted their descendents from the killing but sent fellow countrymen to kill other parents and other parents' children and grandchildren?

I have heard the same lyric in my head ever since the sabers started rattling. The original context of the lyric was worlds removed from the present situation, but it fits the present situation.

Too many martyrs and too many dead;
Too many lies, too many empty words were said
too many times by too many angry men.
Oh let it never be again.

Peace.

Jim