The Bill Mauldin quote is interesting, never heard it before. Any source? The darker truth is that the last thing you want to do is to get democracies grimly determined to fight a war: once they decide they are in, nothing will stop them, they will drop atomic bombs because they believe in their goodness. The pained look on the Rumsfelds of the world is the look of the crusader who cannot believe in the refusal of the crusadee to appreciate the wonderful thing that is being done for him. Hell hath no fury like a crusader scorned.

yours, Peter T.