Personally this war rings a bit hollow to me. Our track record doesn't indicate that we've been too concerned about the murder of innocents around the world.
And you were right about this country not listening to the Pope about the war. We also did not listen to him regarding abortion. 40 million plus innocents have been legally killed in this country, with the blessing of the government.
I'm no fan of the UN either. I don't believe the Vatican has a permanent seat on the UN, but I think the US does. That's another thing I don't understand, why do we play the UN game sometimes, and sometimes not? I think we should either get in or get out. I think get out is the best thing.
I don't disagree with anything you said. My ONLY comment was that those anti-war folks who used as their reasoning that so many "innocents" would be killed or hurt weren't taking into account the hundreds of thousands who had ALREADY been killed or hurt.
If you're right and the Pope's comments were taken out of context, perhaps he doesn't belong in that category. But I stand by my comment that all those who used the innocent casualties argument to justify their anti-war positions were misguided at best and disingenuous at worst -- whether it be the Pope, or a Tibetan Monk, or a Hollyweird Celebrity. And my comment could apply to anyone -- it just so happened this thread was about the Pope.
I have no anti-Pope tendencies or beliefs, in spite of what others are trying to imply. I purposefully stay out of religious-based arguments because I'm not educated enough about most of them to carry on a debate and religion inspires so much passion from folks that you'd best be ready to rumble when you enter the religious arena.
It just riles me when ANYONE is REPORTED to claim that this war is/was immoral, illegal, or unjust.
I would add a "tiny" disclaimer to your comment about "innocents around the world." While I agree with the gist of your comment, I sincerely believe GW was and is concerned about the Iraqi innocents. He's spoken about this both before and during the war. But, in general, you're probably right.