Well, speaking of laws of the jungle, as the dominant beast on the planet, you've got to ask yourself if you're willing to allow another smaller beast to run around and do what it will on what you consider your turf. Saddam is someone we've manipulated in the past, to our ends. We attempted a trade embargo to force him to become compliant with our wishes once again. When a lesser beast challenges a greater one with noncompliance the outcome will eventually end up in some kind of confrontation. Who will win? The answer seems clear enough. If you were the most powerful entity would you chose to allow another much smaller and weaker one win in a showdown? Whatever the exact reasons for our being there are, hmm, let's see, strutting our world dominance thing by seeking economic assurances via the control of the region's resources to bolster our insatiable profiteering, we are there, establishing our dominance over yet another region outside our "official" borders. Of course, we've been doing just that, exerting our dominance in the area, for a long time. We've been doing it to maintain our stature, our place at the top of the heap. Does this struggle to maintain our standing ever allow us to relax our posture? No. Just because you're paranoid, it doen't mean they're not out to get you.