There was no need to go to war. There was no threat to American interests. Iraq was a fully shackled nation, under sanctions and perpetual scrutiny. Saddam Hussein had been essentially contained...superfluous to middle east politics and devoid of influence.

Oh, yeah. The "Saddam took up knitting" theory. As for Iraq being "devoid of influence," please take that amazing theory up with the rest of the nations in the Middle East.

My theory, and that of many other leaders and nations, is that Saddam would become a deadly threat at his earliest opportunity, and probably was one already. This is what he has done every other time we've gone through this cycle.

Right now, he's out of there, and any threat, potential or otherwise, has been eliminated. If poor old Saddam had really taken up knitting, then at worst we have freed 22 million people from a dynasty of raving lunatics.

Oh, have you heard? North Korea signed an agreement a few years back to never build nuclear facilities. Iran declared to the United Nations that it was not pursuing nuclear weapons. After Gulf War 1, which the peaceniks declared we should never have fought, the U.N. found a nuclear program they never suspected. Had we listened to the peaceniks back then, we'd already be facing a nuclear Iraq, Kuwait would be long gone, and Saudi Arabia would be next in Iraq's sites.

We have been taken to the cleaners almost every time we try the diplomatic route with amoral monsters.

How many more sucker punches does it take to get the message across?