[BenLurkin]

Saddam is a bad guy. No question. He has WMDs. Yes.

There are a number of other nations and tin horn dictators around the world that meet this same description. Is it in our national interest to perform a global shop cleaning?

There is no just war without a first attack or an immediate threat. If there is (and there may very well be) then Bush needs to make the case and we'll have at 'em. Otherwise, covert efforts will have to do for now.

[The Vast Right Wing]

1. When Saddam has nukes, he will be able to invade his neighbors and the US will be able to do nothing about it due to fear of being nuked.
2. Saddam is not complying with the cease-fire agreement, that alone gives sufficient cause for the US to slap him down.
3. In a world with WMD, even the smallest of probabilities that they will be used by our enemies is sufficient cause to pre-emptively destroy them, this is because the costs are so huge if they are used.

[onedoug]

When Saddam set the Kuwaiti oil fields on fire after being routed, he couldn't have known that American hellfighters would extinguish them within weeks, but rather seems to have hoped for their burning on for years, to their eventual possible poisoning of the entire atmosphere. That's an "immediate" enough threat for me of his intentions. We need to take him, now.

[another cricket]

There are a number of other nations and tin horn dictators around the world that meet this same description.

Actually, no. For which I thank God daily. The closest to Saddam would be Pakistan. Thankfully they are not totally out of their minds. China would like to and at some point might. We have got to get SDI up and running ASAP.

Is it in our national interest to perform a global shop cleaning?

Not possible. The Genie is out of the bottle. Taking out Saddam will make others a little more cautious and that buys us time. Fortunately for us most that have the will to use WoMD don't have the money to get them. Those who have the money are, as a general rule not so inclined. Why would you build up your country’s economy just to have it turned into glowing green glass? In return you kill a few million Americans at best. The cost /benefit ratio is disproportionate. But Saddam is old and not so stable. What does he have to lose?

a.cricket