The look in January, 2003, was that Iraq was being disarmed. That was the intended goal, and the UN was receiving favorable reports that were guiding the planet toward this goal.

A good thing was happening. Not a great thing, but a good thing.

Anyway, the goal of Iraq was that the UN and the US see that the UN goal was being reached -- even though it was not.

What launched the whole idea of Iraq as a member to the world’s Axis of Evil were two specific items:

* a shipment of high-strength aluminum tubes
* a shipment of six machines for treating kidney stones, with 120 high-precision switches as spare parts

On the surface and alone, suspect at best. Any Third World nation purchasing such would expect to undergo a certain level of international investigation.

In the hands of a known terror advocate and solicitor -- one who regards his people as personal chattel, offering them minimal medical assistance if any -- these items become essential stepping stones for the enrichment of weapons-grade uranium, and as switches for the detonation of nuclear arms.

No explanation ever came from Iraq regarding the tubes and switches, regardless of requests from the US, the UK, or the UN.

"With UN officials scouring the country to search for weapons activity, it would be extremely difficult for the Baghdad government to develop or use prohibited weapons without being detected."
-- David Cortright, Alistair Millar, George A. Lopez, and Linda Gerber
Report of the Sanctions and Security Project of the Fourth Freedom Forum and the Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame

This, however, has never been my point. A known murderer who is a leader of a nation, but who needs to be baby-sat as an international policy, also needs to be removed from leadership.

This has been adequately done.

Hussein continued to flout UN authority, refusing to disclose any information to the UN inspection teams of site locations, not because they did not exist, but because he did not want them found. There were even satty photos of sites to be inspected that showed vans -- like those recently found in Iraq, and quickly disregarded as inconsequential. These vans, however, were removed from the observed sites before the arrival of the UN officials could inspect them. Now we find them “swept” clean.

Dan