Old Guy; You're really not worth any more of my energy to debate with because I am starting to think you really are just selectively blind and deaf. Your comments about Africa in particular are stunningly wrong-headed.

But one thing I will respond to:

"Why does the United States need to solve Iraq's problems? "
To promote peace and stability in the world.

If we should be promoting peace and stability in the world, then why are our energies focusedonly on Iraq?
What about Zimbabwe? The Congo?
What about Chechnya?
What about (as mentioned before) Cuba and Venezuela?
What about North Korea?
What about the escalating situation between India and Pakistan? They DO have nuclear weapons.
What about Syria, Jordan, and Israel?

The United States does nothing to "promote peace and stability" in any of these placesand yet people in favor of an attack on Iraq (like yourself) claim that Iraq is somehow in need of our policing, that they are somehow more of a "threat" to us than countries whose nuclear arsenals are already known and whose political situations are volatile.
So why are we so desperate to "protect" Iraq but nowhere else?
The answer: oil.

All that an attack upon Iraq will do will be to further anger and galvanize the "real" terrorist forces in the Muslim world to further vent their hatred of us. I think this is precisely what the current US government wants; then, under the guise of protecting US citizens, they can invoke martial law and create the police state and "bunkered paradise" they seem to want so dreadfully.