Hmmm. I thought the ability to hold divergent views was a sign of sophisticed thinking. :-)

As the international situation has changed, so has the American stance on Iraq. However, it was a mistake to help arm Saddam. It is, imho, a mistake to sells arms at all, whether they be big or small. It was then, it is now. The US can't stop the flood of international arms sales, but we could put a nasty dent in it. Something I'd like to see.

And the US has jumped in bed with too many ruthless foreign leaders. Again, we're hardly alone in that, but I'd sure like to see us be more careful about who we shack up with...internationally speaking.

On both these fronts, we'd be somewhat hobbled by "taking the high road," mainly because we'd be mighty lonely up there. Sure, we'd have some company, but I think for the most part nations that don't deal in arms simply don't have the industrial infrastucture to do so. There is no "nation of saints."

As far as the evil act of shaking hands with Saddam...well, lots of people have done that, including many from the UN, France, Germany and Russia. Think they didn't shake hands over the deals they penned?

I've said it before, I'll say it again: the war in Iraq, in hindsight, was a mistake. But given the intel that was coming from several nations, it was a tough call. Iraq was sending all the signals of a nation working to regain its WMD capability. Even Saint Kerry said, in speech after speech, that Saddam was a danger.