I thought I was the champion of the massive post crammed with equally verbose links, but between Davin and Raoul, I am seriously outclassed.

Just a few small points, some specific, others general:

--First, I never thought I would see the day the left would throw Patrick Buchanan (or his organization) in my face, but I guess there's a first time for everything. With Pat, it's always "Fortess America, trade barriers, and screw Israel," and this hasn't really changed in years.

Buchanan and his ilk are wrong. Israel is important, just like Taiwan, South Korea, and other small vulnerable bastions of freedom.

--I'm with McCain. Jimmy Carter should sit down and shut up. He's damn lucky Nixon and Ford did when Carter screwed the pooch.

There are no "clear alternatives." Sanctions only kill Iraqi citizens. This has been proven. Inspections physically cannot work as long as Iraq is actively trying to hide things. This has also been proven. Inspectors found weapons programs in 1991 only after Iraq had been gutted first by military force.

--As for Kiesling, the opposition is sure getting a hell of a lot of mileage out of one disgruntled ex-State Department employee.

--C'mon Raoul. Edward S. Herman?

--Most of the major protesters against the current war in Iraq, who claim Iraq has nothing to do with terrorism and never attacked the U.S., were equally adamant against military action in Afghanistan, which proveably did both. The only consistency here is opposition to Bush and America. Stephen Day is no exception.

It is painfully obvious that most of the European opposition to the war stems from the same source, despite all the verbal dancing to the contrary.

--Obviously, nobody gives a rat's ass about 20 million Iraqis living in hell. It's no skin off our nose. Get the military out of there, and bring back the sanctions. While these people are certainly not sufficient reason to go to war on their own, they should at least be tallied up in the pro-war column.

--We apparently have no right to interfere or judge other nations' ways of organizing their society. Except of course, old South Africa. Oppression only counts if the oppressed are a different race, I guess.