[Rockatansky]

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Despite all my comments in these forums, and the fact that I am a conservative christian, I actually am quite a bit of a libertarian republican and regret what I see as the temporary necessity for restrictions on our liberties. I despise government intrusion into one's private affairs, but when terrorists have obviously operated among us, there has to be sacrifices made for the time being.

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I assume you think these things are necessary in order to prevent another 9-11.

9-11 Death Toll: 2,752
9-11 Economic Impact: $83 Billion

Iraq Invasion Death Toll: ~2100 Americans, Tens of thousands of Iraqis.
Iraq Invasion Cost: > $200 Billion

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Very convenient argument where you purposely assume that there are not more terrorist attacks if we let world terrorism and the rogue states who could help them go unchecked.

The future costs of not dealing with today's problems are always greater than the price to be paid today to eliminate them.

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I'm obviously not a security expert, so, honestly, I have no idea whether and to what extent the government's domestic activities have prevented another large-scale terrorist attack.

I just wanted to point out that the human and economic cost of the Iraq war is already 2-3 times that of 9-11. I think a lot of folks are justifiably skeptical that the Iraq war has prevented another 9-11, much less two or three of them.