I believe the personal option for Saddam was explored in great detail and he was just too slippery. Remember he had his own son-in-laws executed and there's the little tape they showed of him having a list of names read out in the Iraqi parliment and causing his closest supporters to "disappear". He was not an easy target.

Sorry, but my recollection of the soft wood lumber situation was that it began long before the Iraq war issue. And being from cattle country, dude, you don't take any chances with any contagious cattle diseases. We quarantine fast and put herds down down even faster and we're not even mad at anyone.