Well, isn't this deeply disturbing?

[kandrathe]

...but was it justified?

A better question is; "When is war justified?" I'm pretty sure "Pearl Harbor" justified our response to Japan, and the sinking of our shipping by German U-boats might have justified our actions against Germany. Most Americans at that time did not think that just the threat posed by Hitler and the Nazi's justified going to war against Germany.

I think as a answer to your musing about the US as the world's police you can look to the former Yugoslavia. This is Europe's Haiti, and Europe tried and was unable to do anything about it. Clinton was eventually pressured into taking on the task of stabilizing that region, and we still have about 1500(of 2500) soldiers in Bosnia now. In Kosovo, we have 4350 of 18,500 troops. Ask a Rwandan if they might have liked some US intervention during their genicide 10 years ago. Ask some non-Islamic Sudanese if they would like the world to take notice of the mass slaughter there. What does Iraq have that many other hot spots in the world do not? Hmmm. It is not just about oil, but oil has everything to do with it. Oil provides power in many senses of the word, but I mean political power.

Why why why?

There is seldom just one simple answer. One might also pose "Why, why, why did the Reagan administration prop up this madman, help him with (or at least not stop him from obtaining and using) chemical and biological weapons, rather than let Iraq fall to Iran?" What would it mean to the world if 1/3 of the worlds oil supply was controlled by a small group of religious extremists?

Oh, wait! It is. But, at least they are extremists willing to do business with us, rather than plotting our destruction. Although, it seems they are not beneath funding those that are plotting our destruction.