Greg, and in answer to allusions to imperialism or empire by the U.S. there is a brief quote by Colin Powel that is apt:

When in England at a fairly large conference, Colin Powell was asked by the Archbishop of Canterbury if our plans for Iraq were just an example of empire building by George Bush. He answered by saying that,

"Over the years, the United States has sent many
of its fine young men and women into great peril to fight for freedom beyond our borders. The only amount of land we have ever asked for in return is enough to bury those that did not return."

It became very quiet in the room.

It is important to use terms wisely (by definition) and in context in an extremeley personal thread such as this. If you abjure the warrior's service when called, did you answer in the service of Peace beyond your front yard? Did you serve in the Peace Corps for two years to match our call from neighbors and peers? Did you serve the poverty-stricken in our own country with building homes or (ugh) picking up trash in an inner city ghetto? I didn't see you in Nicaragua to act as an observer for the first free election. You weren't in Russia when it needed our help in an unstable period of balkanization?