Y'know, there was a small chance that the shuttle disaster -- so close to the probable start of the Iraq war -- might have taken a little of the starch out of our collar. Made us less willing to fight. Made us more willing to put the war off.
But Saddam, ever proficient at snatching defeat out of the jaws of victory, manages in one utterly dumb act, to reinvigorate our resolve to crush him.
Excellent point.