WHO HAS CLEAN HANDS? I don't know much about Slate's William Saletan, but one of his recent blog entries there stopped me in my tracks:

Simply put, the number of innocent people who are dead because we ousted Saddam is dwarfed by the number of innocent people who are dead because we didn't. The use of American force is on one side of the ledger, and mass killing is on the other. Trends in military and media technology make this dilemma increasingly likely where belligerent murderers rule. You can keep your hands clean, or you can keep many more people alive. It's up to you.

If you tend toward pacifism, if you loathe violence, if you're against an interventionist foreign policy, you should read this article. Or if you want to understand how you can be a largely peaceful person who happens to support some wars, it's also for you.