I think there are some other scenarios to consider: what if Saddam implements a covert operation and smuggles a nuke into one of our cities...then his agents leave the country and detonate the bomb remotely from overseas. We might not ever be able to determine conclusively who nuked us. All the physical evidence would be destroyed and if it was a very tight operation there might be no trail of evidence to follow anywhere. At that point, we can't just vaporize Baghdad with a nuke when we're not sure they did it. Then there's the scenario of Saddam invading Kuwait or Saudi Arabia, this time with nukes. How do we kick him out when he's armed with nuclear weapons? The possibilites for invasion, blackmail, and revenge are endless and extremely serious. Kim Jun-il may be crazier, but so far he hasn't shown the kind of agressive, brutal behavior that Saddam has demonstrated in invading Kuwait, gassing 5000 Kurds, etc. I agree that Pakistan is also a major concern. A radical Islamic revolution over there could turn Pakistan into a nuclear-armed menace to the world...(which is probably why Russia just joined NATO.) It's a dangerous world these days, but that's the way it is.
It has not worked with Saddam.
In this case, it would be his destruction for hitting us somewhere, but he could hardly finish us. He might get one city, but we would pulverize Baghdad into glass along with him and his heirs.
You're assuming he gives two s**ts and a holler about his heirs. He's getting old and weak. He doesn't want to be assassinated by his own kids.
He is a tyrant, and they are usually cowards by nature. He enjoys being a tyrant. He is not religious and not a martyr. There is nothing to suggest he would give his life in this cause.
He's getting old, and there is word that he's getting sick. He truly does not want anyone to succeed him--he has a habit of shooting competent generals to avoid the potential threat they might pose to him.
He wants to remain the rich ruler of his regime. He wants to sell oil.
And if he would comply with ALL of the terms of the 1991 cease-fire, he could do just that. But he hasn't. So much for your theory that he's rational.
He also wants to be head of some Pan-Arab kingdom in his imagination. If he were to do what you say, he would be dead in the matter of hours and America will live on, injured for sure but hardly vanquished.
Like I said, he tends to ruthlessly kill potential successors. He might do this just to make sure that he goes out still on top, and achieve immortal glory in the Arab world at the same time.
Saddam does not appear insane as for example Kim Jung-Il of North Korea has shown himself to be.
OK, so you believe that al-Qaeda got the anthrax by ordering it from a comic book advertisement?
Yet we are not invading North Korea, which I think is a much bigger threat to us. Instead we are giving them more nuke technology and missiles so they will be able to hit us in the future.
Sorry, old chap, but this is another example of you not knowing whereof you speak.