BB,

What I meant to put over was that you stated there were some agreements between Kuwait and the USA, when I asked what they might be you stated that you were not sure but that there were UN resolutions in place. These resolution came into after the invasion of Kuwait and as such bears no place in your analogy whereby you say that Iraq effectivley declared war on the USA because of existing treaty obligations with Kuwait. So with the UN resloutions in force, if they had done it again then I would of course be wrong.

I may be wrong, certainly in your eyes I am, but I do blame Bush jr, surely the leader of the most powerful military nation on the planet with all the destrucive potential at his command could have forced compliance through more peaceful means, UN inspectors etc. I know they worked slowly which you don't seem to like but they did not lead to countless deaths as they worked, they may have cost a few millions of dollars, but a lot less than all the bomb and missiles dropped to date.

Didn't Hans Blick the UN appointed weapons inspector say that there were no WMD, surely that should have been enough for most rational people. Even Scott Ritter, someone who seemd quite dedicated stated that the weapons were no longer there, ok so his information was dated but so was that included in the UK government report, remember the dubious inclusion of a dated student thesis.

Bruce, you also critisize those who said Bush "don't do it", but try not to be to hard on them, I am sure that each time a news report starts with "another coalition soldier was killed today" they derive no satisfaction from being proved right to a degree, in fact those who were most vocal are, I imagine deeply saddened each time it happens, I know I am.

Sledge