Jonsoniana,
Your average "non-radical" anti-war citizens don't speak out much in the US because it is considered anti-American, and even more importantly, dangerous to our troops. Patriotism has become synonymous with a pro-war stance. I think it's possible to support our armed forces but still feel we shouldn't have gone over there against the objections of so many important allies. World opinion does matter, and the opinion that the UN is irrelevant, France and Germany are irrelevant, European citizens' opinions are irrelevant, is offensive to many of us. And yes, we are patriotic Americans. Last night was the first night I heard an American on TV seriously question the wisdom of our actions in Iraq--I believe it was considered safe to do so since we at that point were clearly toppling Sadam's regime. I apologize for not remembering the person's name, but one memorable quote was that the US had "punched a hole into a giant hornet's nest." Let's see what happens in the power vacuum.

A very interesting column is Joe Klein's Time magazine piece April 14th. It seems to me to be a very fair assessment of our current foreign policy and its worldwide effect. http://www.time.com/time/covers/1101030414/cklein.html

The jubilation of Iraqis seen today is quite moving, and gratifying. But don't be surprised if the hatred of Americans is just as strong--can we really be trusted? And who can we trust in Iraq? Do you really think that thousands of years of tribal and religious in-fighting will be erased now that Sadam is gone? More likely we will see the break-up of Iraq into continually warring factions. There will be resentment no matter what America does. The question will be whether the middle east is better off for us having punched into the hornet's nest. Let's hope that no matter how many casualties we have taken, how many innocent civilians we have killed, how many limbs we've blown off of children, that the Iraqis decide that it was worth it. America's opinion isn't the only one that matters.