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Thank you, marshmallow. I am in complete agreement with what you have stated, although I doubt that I could have put the case as succinctly. Contrary to what has been stated in this article, Rome has been prescient in her analysis, as is her wont.

I was under the impression that opposition to this ill-conceived adventurism (a characterization similar to that of the senior Mr. Bush in the first war, when he warned against getting mired in a "nation-building" exercise) in Iraq was pretty much forbidden at FR, which is among the reasons why I promised myself some time ago that I would not post here again. However, I am willing to risk banning to let you know, publicly, that you are not alone.

I am not surprised, of course, to find the usual RadTrad suspects willing to swallow any anti-Papal or anti-curial propaganda they are predisposed to believe. Such rubbish is indispensable to their idea that their schismatic disposition is justified due to an (imaginary) "emergency".

There is very little new under the sun, and we've seen this foolishness before. It is nothing more than the "paranoid style" being played out in the public arena, unfortunately misleading those who cannot or will not do the necessary homework to unearth the flaws in their analysis. (This is especially the case for some of our well-intentioned, but mis-informed, young people.)

Take, the example of the Catholic Senator, Joe McCarthy. He was right: there were Communists in government and in Hollywood, and they were a threat to the stability of our nation. Had he kept his mental balance, he would be remembered for having performed an indispensable service to our country. Instead, he began to "find" a Communist in every pot and two Communists in every garage, and his name has become a byword for political insanity. It also had catastrophic effects on his personal life, and he died a broken, embittered, alcoholic.

St. Paul advises us to "test everything and retain what is good". Had both Sen. McCarthy and the current crop of paranoid "traditionalists" taken this admonition to heart they might have learned that self-governance which is necessary to keeping on the mentally and spiritually healthy side of the fence.