The problem is, Tom, its not that we killed just the bastard 'raping little boys and burying them in his back yard' We killed several hundred little boys and several thousand big folks along the way.

Your reworking of my little analogy is flawed. To be numerically consistent, you have to assume this hypothetical guy has been killing dozens of kids a year for many years, and shows no signs of stopping for years to come. And when the cops finally bust in, guns blazing, one or two kids got killed in the crossfire. Regrettable? Certainly. But does it mean that nothing should have been done? Ever?

And we have not yet demonstrated that what we did won't result in another monster taking over for Saddam.

We have not yet demonstrated that an asteroid won't hit Iraq tomorrow, either. At least now they have a finite chance at a free future. Before, they had zero.

And Saddam is still at large, regardless, to live free.

May he have much joy of it, for the little time it lasts. At least he isn't in power any more.

And WRT to the Star Wars analogy Aside from what is below, it seems that Greedo wasn't even armed.

Oh really? I suggest, you poor excuse for a Star Wars geek ;), that you check the scene in the original Star Wars Episode 4. The unaltered one on the first VHS. Greedo has a pistol trained at Han's head through the whole conversation, until Han Solo takes preemptive action.