Hi Larry,

Well, don't you think we should have the co-operation and support of all the countries surrounding this "dictator" if he is so bad? Why should we risk pissing off more Muslims (who already hate us), when the Muslims themselves don't care?

>A lot of people in Germany and Japan didn't like us, either. We and our allies went in there and stopped their mass murders and genocide. Sometimes, you have to do the right thing even if it is unpopular.

I agree with you here. And I can see some short and well executed strike to go in and get him.
But he won't crawl out of his bunker easily.
And Bagdad could suffer terribly.
The logistics boggle the mind. We already have 160,000 Gulf War Vets on Disability Pensions from contact with the leftovers from THAT war, enriched uranium from our bombs, and the downwind spectre of the bombed chemical and biological weapons plants.
This could be much, much worse.
(The Aussies are annoyed they volunteered their troops until Bush mentioned the possible use of NUCLEAR weapons being used. Hey, it's just not ME!)

Maybe Hussein and his army will cry "Uncle" and it will all be over in sound byte.

My quote: "There are plenty of operatives in the middle of the weapons deals floating around to every dictator, terrorist group and "enemy' of the United States to be a bigger "threat" to us. "

Basically that no one is safe. Nobody's minding the boiling pot. Weapons dealers world-wide aren't always on the up and up and things get sold and re-sold. Hey, we have no safety net here, other than co-operation from countries to help disarm, and watch their terrorists. A group of "terrorists" from one country, might make a good ally if someone changes their attitudes and alliances to US.
No guarantees, so I think we'd better have unilateral support first.......just in case.

>History has shown many times that we give back terroritory, not build empires. Did we keep Germany, Italy, Japan, or any of the other areas we captured in WWII? Nope.

Maybe I'm just suspicious of the Bush/Cheney oil cartel.
I'm sure they're really nice men, and that I have them set up as ogres in my mind because of all the liberal, America-hating journalists I've been reading (please throw in a few good British journalists too). Maybe because I know their sordid history where money and business lie, and I've seen them GRAB power, then shove everyone around with it.
Well, you may be right and I may be wrong.

The world right now is belly-aching about war, and I think we've come a long way with peace and should continue to. There are other ways of controlling criminals other than killing them.
(Oh, I forget......Bush as Governor of Texas executed more criminals than anyone.)

He really DOES think that GOD annointed him to be the bearer of Armageddon.
You don't have to look too far to see his religious values as a born-again Christian.
It's that mind set I find slightly unnerving, and one that I will speak out against as much as I want to.

Peace be with you, brother.