<Before we go in I would like to see the following things:

UN sanction (implies no security council vetos).

A coalition of several allied countries directly involved.

The blessing of Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Egypt.

Some kind of assurances about what post-Saddam Iraq looks like. Or failing that, I'd probably settle for a sign that the administration has some kind of plan.

If we can't get those I would prefer to go the inspection/sanction path.



A coalition of allies would be very helpful, and Arab allies wouldn't suck either. I think we already have some on board. If we have to, we can go it alone, but it would be much harder without the use of local bases and having to watch our backs.

The UN can jump up my butt.

Inspection/sanction is not going to work. The fact that it is literally impossible to find what we need to find as long as Saddam's government is actively moving things around does not seem to enter into a lot of calculations here. I could hide a tank battalion in underground facilities in Iraq that God himself couldn't find without the help of some fink on the inside. As for a one-room biolab, get real.

As for sanctions, we have already seen how successful those are.

Even if the Iraqi government is destroyed, and the WMD programs paralyzed, it would still probably take years to find all the hidden stuff that's in there. And that's assuming we can hold a tight enough perimeter to keep it from dribbling over the border.