"Containment" during the Cold War included Vietnam and Korea, in case you missed those. It also included defending our own hemisphere against Soviet incursion. The Left was usually on the other side in these conflicts, especially toward the end of the Cold War, which they believe was ended exclusively by Nobel Peace Prize winner Gorbachev.

Were sanctions in Iraq killing 5,000 kids a month, or was that a lie on the part of the U.N.? Either answer is acceptable.

As for WMD, go back and read Duelfer again.

Saddam wanted to recreate Iraq’s WMD capability—which was essentially destroyed in 1991—after sanctions were removed and Iraq’s economy stabilized, but probably with a different mix of capabilities to that which previously existed. Saddam aspired to develop a nuclear capability—in an incremental fashion, irrespective of international pressure and the resulting economic risks—but he intended to focus on ballistic missile and tactical chemical warfare (CW) capabilities.

--From the "Findings" section of Duelfer's report, which has apparently been moved on the CIA site. I still have a copy in my own files.

You really think no-fly zones and sanctions were going to work for another 20 years?

I've also been following the Saddam document dump from some months ago, which is slowly being translated. This one is typical (original here.) I could dump dozens of things like this here if I thought it would make one damn bit of difference.

You might want to go here and do some exploring on your own some rainy day.