TOM: "I think the main point is the impression he was giving American and British intelligence forces."

MY REPLY: And what the man said was that he didn't have any WMDs - that he destroyed them years ago. Turns out he was telling the truth. The "impression" we presumed was that he wasn't telling the truth. That was an erroeneous impression on out part, not his.

TOM: "If a cop shoots a guy who is pointing a gun at him from his jacket pocket, it isn't the cop's fault if the guy was later found to be just using his finger."

MY REPLY: And just when exactly in the past five years did Mr. Hussein point a gun - real or imaginary - at us? Please be specific in your reply.

It just doesn't make sense that Saddam Hussein would vigorously deny having WMDs if what he wanted to do was to make us believe he had them when he didn't. And he had no credible motivation to make us believe something that wasn't true.

The story in the Guardian is just hogwash, Tom. It doesn't make any sense.