"Despite French opposition to a war in Iraq, the French military could assist a U.S.-led coalition should Iraq use biological and chemical weapons against coalition forces, the French ambassador to the United States said Tuesday."

This is not a firm statement that Iraq had WMD. C'mon...

"Seeming to dismiss Bush's oft-repeated contention that Iraq, a Russian ally, represents a "unique threat" to world peace, Putin forcefully noted that other nations have weapons of mass destruction and ties to terrorist groups, including al-Qaida."

Nor is this. At all.

"Reuters - President Bush and Russia's Vladimir Putin warned Iraq Friday to disarm or face tough consequences, but the Kremlin chief also told his guest any action against Baghdad should be within U.N. rules."

Is this it?

tom wrote: "your bar of absolute certainty is ridiculous."

Again, not what I said- I said empirical fact and statements that turn out as anything other than absurdly and patently false. Like the tikriti crack.

"The main point is that most of the world was at least conceding that Iraq may present a threat"

Sure, me too- Iraq could and could have posed a threat. Entirely plausible. But how in the hell is plausible and could justification for pre-emptive war?

There are a lot of nations that could threaten us. Any nation on this planet with interests contrary to our own and a literate populace could very well threaten us.

So what? Shall we wipe the world away?

Davin L.