"Instead of spending huge sums of money on weaonry, they should be providing more foood and medical care to their people." Danged, Dougie, I thought you were talking about Bush there, pal.

Then you say that the US is "we are still dependent on oil... unless we drill for our own" Ahhh, we could cut consumption and we could also make a larger investment in renewable energy. We should be doing both those things anyway for our kids and grandkid's sake.

And unless you know something that I don't know, Saddam does not have a technology to destroy his oil fields. Even if ya' light them up they're just going to burn in relation to the available oxygen which two miles under the surface of the earth is in short supply.

And, my friend, this little "Saddam has exhibited his willingness to use wepons of mass destruction" line is getting a tad thread bare. The US has certainly not been to shy itself.

Lastly, if you'll look back at the end of the Persian Gulf War I think you'll agree that the US had two concerns. First, with the highway of death, the PR war was loosing ground around the world. I personally think that the killings were excessive and hurt the US's image in the last day or two of the bombings. Secondly, the next phase would have been the phase that the US is now faced with and that is the urban warfare phase. Between the two, Bush senior pulled the plug. The end game was ill thought out just as it is ill thought out this time.

Your turn, Doug...

Bobert