[Adam Y.]

(rampant terrorism, talks that the January Iraqi election will only take place in half of the country or be cancelled altogether, and the addition of no allied nation providing 5,000+ troops for stabilization other than Britain),

You seem to forget we had the same problem in Afghanistan.

Another great part of Fahrenheit 9/11 was when the recruiters were shown trying to get kids to enlist in the armed forces. Moore raised the point that a large amount of volunteer soldiers, especially in the National Guard, are there because that’s the only way they could go to college or earn money. Many of them come from poor families in poor parts of the country, and the only chance they have to get out is to enlist and give years of their lives to defend us and our country. When joining the armed forces, they trust us to only put them in harm’s way when it’s absolutely necessary, and not before. You can go where you want from there, since you already know where I would be going with it.

That I don't disagree with you there. The army has some awfully dumb policies on recruiting people. Actually it's the army reserves.

Afghanistan
20.5 million people (1999)
1 USA soldier per 1,366.67 people
652,090 square kilometers
1 USA soldier per 43.5 square kilometer

Iraq
22.25 million people (1999)
1 USA soldier per 148.33 people
438,317 square kilometers
1 USA soldier per 2.92 square kilometer
Statistically speaking, we would have had a much better chance of finding Osama bin Laden in Iraq than in Afghanistan. It’s just too bad that the commanding Generals, Secretary Rumsfeld, other administration advisors, and finally President Bush didn’t focus the troop strength we used to find Saddam Hussein (who definitively had no role in the September 11, 2001 attacks) in Iraq on finding Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan.

Umm.... You are throwing those statistics way out of context. You are assuming that more troops means you are better off finding Bin Laden despite the fact that your statistics state nothing about what type of soilder they are. A mechanic isn't gong to do the job of a special ops person. Also, you are assuming that Osama is still in Afghanistan which I don't think many people believe he is at this point and if he isn't there is nothing we can do but sit on our hands.