Afghanistan was the closest thing we had to a "right" war. I highly doubt that most of the conspiracy theory about the World Trade Center have any real basis, that terrorist group had already made a previous attempt at it. Things went well at first. The terrorists' backs were broken, and US forces got within shooting distance of Bin Laden, but our own infighting gave him time to get away. Iraq... well, Saddam had it coming, but not for the reasons the administration tried to play up. It seems to me that Bush got played just as much as the rest of us, in that respect. Perhaps moreso, what with his family's history with Saddam. If the people responsible for pushing the Iraq agenda had been honest, the policy may have had more staying power. Instead, they played it upon the terrorism hype, which just didn't have the staying power after things inevitably bogged down in bureaucracy.
Iraq did have weapons of mass destruction; we gave it to them. It wasn't the bomb, but a nasty assortment of chemicals and biological agents. Unfortunately, the administration tried to imply that the "WMD" also, and most importantly, contained nuclear weapons. Now, thanks to their own shortsightedness, the public believes that WMD are nukes, which it is now clear Iraq did not have. Honestly, I am more scared of the fact that we didn't find any weapons of mass destruction, including the chemicals we gave them previously. Who has them now? Why aren't we trying to find out? Another failing of the administration, chasing ghost stories it created, while ignoring the real threats.
Iraq is a mess. It's the culmination of years of power games with Iran, which is why we backed Iraq in the past before having to behead the monster we created. We have succeeded in creating an Iraq that Iran is afraid of. Problem is, that's because it's a sparking powder keg in the last place on earth we want it. We need to clean it up, and fast.
Now, I think there are three possible alien types out there. Sub-us, which we might find in a crater impact somewhere. About-us, which are likely a bit ahead of us technologically, maybe a few decades or a century, and any contact would be likely hushed up. Ahead-of-us, which are advanced enough to keep out of our reach and detection, and would be smart enough to not touch us with a 49 and 1/2 lightyear pole, considering the mess we've made of ourselves. The odd non-crazy abduction story might be true, and any information the governments have is probably just as sketchy as your average alien conspiracy theory, and is probably lost among them.
And, yes, Dick Cheney...
