saddam's ability to be a total fascist and still get support variously from the west and the former USSR is amazing.
The other thing of interest is that france, Russia, China have been behind lifting sanctions from since the 1990's.
The sanctions were designed to last a frew months while Iraq cleaned up its act.
And now saddam has manipulated the left in America and around the world into into enabling him (or his surviving regime) into marching out in the biggest numbers they can to save him once again.
It is almost like he is a geo-political rorscharch test that allows people to see in him their inner political souls.
I think those who believe that getting rid of him leads to anything besides more opportunity for good are simply seeing the phantoms of their own making.
When his regime uncorks their supposedly non-existant Scuds with warheads of stuff that supposedly doesn't exist, watch people here and elsewhere rationalize what he has done, forgetting the 12 years of lies and enabling that allowed him to do it.
Ed