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> Again, I'm on a work break so I don't have time to check this out thoroughly (will try to remember to do so when I get home), but my memories of the coverage of the debate about whether to go to war or not are almost entirely of people talking about WMDs and of those silly satellite pictures that showed supposed weapons factories. Freeing the Iraqi people took a backseat to our reaction to the "threat" that Hussein was supposedly presenting. I'm willing to admit that my memory is incorrect once I see a source that contradicts it, but again I don't have the time to search for sources now and so I'm going on what I remember for the moment.
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> My definition of a good person is someone who: a) takes care to behave in an ethical manner; b) deeply and sincerely cares about others -- not in a friends-and-family sense, but in a rest-of-humanity sense; c) consistently acts in ways that improve others' lives but do not directly benefit the person him or herself in any substantial way; and d) does not resort to violence unless given absolutely no other option (so achieving c) by killing off everyone who might harm someone else is not being a good person ;) ).
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> ~Chrysanthemum~

I seem to remember reading in a history book that there was a time when war was simple. Two countries got in a big fight and after a while, one of them won and the other lost. The winner got everything they wanted and when they got good and ready, they packed up and went home leaving the defeated nation to fend for itself.

The "spoils of war," as the loot was called, usually included gold, land, and just about anything else of value. Sometimes they released their prisoners, but sometimes they kept them for slaves.

Even the fighting was simple, because soldiers of the fighting armies wore uniforms so you could tell who was a friend and who was an ememy.

If an army was beaten, they would do things like wave a white flag, surrender, and/or present their general's sword to the winning general.

I'm not altogether certain that it was better, but it was simple.
Howard