M. E. - "Anyone who listened to the news before the war would know the answers."

Well, I listened to the news.

M. E. - "A classic case of deception by ommision. Kind of supports Tom's point."

Let's look at the points.

M. E. "Probably pointless but:"

There are 4 of them, and an etc., etc

M. E. - "Danger to ally"

I suspect you mean Israel. 60% of Iraq was under the no-fly zone and regularly attacked by the us. Was there an attack upon Israel by Iraq? Nope.

Iraq had sympathies for the Palestinians, true, but so does anyone with a sense of outrage at ethnic cleansing.

M. E. - "Relevance to war on terror"

None, and known. Some fabricated assertions.

M. E. "preventing nuclear discharge vs inciting one"

I thought the idea was to prevent the proliferation of nukes, but foolish me. The Paks have sponsored that, and they are friends. And Iraq had no nuclear program any more.

M. E. "Potential positive effect on troublesome region as opposed to an isolated pustule in an otherwise advancing region"

None. Known at the time. Would be destabilizing for a long, long time, and create ill-will for American, thereby making it a less secure place.

M. E. - "etc, etc"

Etc., etc.

Regards,
Mark

Arf, and regards.