Teribus: I appreciate your claifications and will accept them at face value. Where, perhaps, we might differ are the resolutions that Bush is now Hell-bent on getting from Congress and the United Nations.

He has been huffin'n'puffing over WMD for a couple months now and just yesterday reasonable people with knowledge of inspections ironed out the final details of inspections with the Iraqis. Hey, a reasonable President would step back and give this plan a chance to work. A reasonable President might even gloat about how all the huffin-n-puffin has worked. A reasonable President, given the fact that when pinned down couldn't come up with any proof of clear dangers that Iraq poses, might even say, "Hey, Saddam, if you "crawfish" (his PR folk's word...) I'm gonna go to Congress and get permission to take you out." These seem to be *reasonable* responses.

Now we hear that Bush wants to "block" the U.N. agreement which if accomplished will set back the time table to getting the inspectors into Iraq, not hasten their return. Now if this treat by Iraq is so great, why would we want to do anything that would set back what we initially wanted? Well, I'll suggest the following reasons:

1. Bush does not see himself as a conqueror by being *reasonable*.

2. Bush desperately wants to keep the drums beating ludly thru the elections.

3. Bush's folks need a war to keep out tax bucks going into their military industrail complex.

4. Like his father, Bush is ill prepared to deal with domestic issues that tend to not only bore him but also involve giving something back to the working class.

5. Bush sees the US role in shaping a new world order as the bully-boss who woulod rather hears its own self talk than to listen to others.

6. And of course there's the legacy factor in that through removing Saddam he would go a long way toward helping the revisionists who would like to clear Senior's name. Not to be lost here, he also would like to have a coonskin to nail on his own wall.

7. And there is also the issue of the War on Terrorism which frankly may not be going the way Bush had hoped. He hasn't caight bin Laden and well, the who thing has just lost that *new war* sparkle.

8. Afganistan appears to be heading back to rule of the meanist and strongest warlords rather than toward a model of "nation building".

9. And least not forget the US economy is in the crapper.

10. Because he can. The War Powers Act has not been used since 1941 but that hasn't stopped one president after another fromn waging "war".

Bobert