<. France trys to portray itself as being on the high moral ground when in fact it is not. They have over the past 12 years consistently undermined the effectiveness of the sanctions yet howl when the US gets tired of enforcing ineffective sanctions

I remember french journalists saying months ago: if France vetoes war, it will be like an atom bomb. Then, later, Chirac made a TV appearance and let the world know that it would indeed veto the war. At least he warned.
But France did something else: it went along interational laws. France cannot by itself rule the world and cannot decide by itself what is good for Europe. It knows it. That's why it followed international principles and by doing so, it gives credit to the UN and the EU.
Whether the sanctions are ineffective or not is an open debate. So far, no missile has hit Israel, contrary to 1991.

See how you feel after a 911 style attack on your home and how that changes what you consider to be preemptive versus reactive.

This is where we simply don't understand the US.
The terrorists were not connected to Iraq and ,yet, it's the country to be forcefully changed.

Europe has known terrorism for decades and from different sources and it always tried to get rid of the perpetrators, just the perpetrators.
It looks like Bush, unable to bring Bin Laden to justice, has gone after the next vilain on the planet.
At what cost?

Raoul