"...the best estimates were that Saddam did have WMD"

oh, he had WMMMD! that's Weapons of Moderate, Medium and/or Minor Destruction. Back 10 years or so, he had more,(especially gas) and no doubt craved more--but NO ONE had serious evidence that he had anything 1½ years ago worth staring THIS mess over. Those who wanted an excuse to get rid of him all talked in circles, believing any flawed bit of gossip and ambiguous reports, slowly convincing and supporting each other until their circular reasoning let them justify themselves in their own minds!

Sorry, but the ability to lie to yourself convincingly does not constitute justification for spending mulit-billions and thousand of lives and running your country's reputation into the dirt...If all he had done was authorize commando teams to 'get' Saddam, I might have even had grudging respect for the goal.

...so, what's next? N. Korea? Kim Jung Il seems to REALLY have some big toys, and is actually making threats....oh...right...Kim has no oil.

What, me? Cynical? naaawwwww...