Now yoiu don't get me accusing you, Doug of being a murderous psychopath who really likes the idea of killing Iraqi woemn and children, because it wouldn't be true. But that's more or less equivalent to what you've just said about me.

As I've repeatedly said, I detest the Saddam govermnment, and did so at the time when the Americans and their allies were backing him up and supplying him with arms and all kinds of other stuff, and shrugging their shoulders at his use of poison gas against enemy troops and Kurdish civilians.

I've also pointed out that there has never been any credible evidence of his people having anything to do with the terrorists attacks of September 11 or Nvember 12, and suggested that it would make very little sense indeed for them to be involved in those kind of operations, because there would be no conceivable advantage to them.

To imply that I feel indifferent to the idea of terrorist attacks on people anywhere is just a lie. I happen to think that a war on Iraq probably makes such things more a lot more likely.