1) Anyone who thinks Saddam Hussein was a garden-variety SOB needs to have another look at him. He had demonstrated his willingness and ability to use chemical weapons (on the Kurds), and he did terrorize his own people. The behaviour of his troops in Kuwait in 1990 was criminal, and his disregard for life or anything resembling morality was evident in his own country and elsewhere. It is clear to me that Iraqis were unable to change their own government, and it is equally clear that they wanted to.

2) The United States has had a history of being 'cops of the world', and the Monroe Doctrine of the 1820s and all the 'Manifest Destiny' crap from the 1840s has hung on in both the popular and political mind. It seems quite normal for the USA to engage in imperialistic activities. The ability of the United States to wage war is awesome, and that ability has been beneficial to all of us (World War II is the example that comes to mind). However, more and more the USA has tried to act in place of the United Nations.

3) The United Nations has had its cajones clipped. It is a quite impotent organization. (My country has a long history of involving itself in 'peacekeeping' efforts sanctioned by the UN. At present, Canada has troops from the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry and JTF2 stationed in Afghanistan. But, Canada's refusal to participate in the Iraq War has cost us much. We have had and continue to have our economic peepee slapped by the United States, and being loyal to the United Nations has done us no good.) That said, it should be evident to all that both the United Nations and the United States have changed substantially over the past fifty years.

I will not, however, blame the American people for their government's policies. I think Americans have lost control of their government, just as the United Nations has 'lost control' of its members. Personally, I am glad Hussein is 'gone'. But that will not make me glad that Bush is in power. He is an equally dangerous man, and he controls the most significant military power in the history of the world. THAT, my friend, is friggin' scary. Coupled with a New World Order, none of this scenario bodes well for the future of humankind. Was this war needless? Maybe, and maybe not. But then, that's no longer a hypothetical question, is it?