Also (joining the discussion late) re: criticism of the UN's role:


As I've said several times on other threads (starting in spring 2004), the UN pulled Bush's chestnuts out of the fire in Iraq, by acting as honest broker between the various factions, thus making possible an Iraqi face on the opposition to the insurgents.

Without the UN, there's a good chance the many predictions, by Mudcatters, of Vietnam Part Two, would have come true.

As many other posters have already noted, Bush and the more fervent Bushites on this forum have wonderful chutzpah in claiming the violation of UN resolutions as justification for invading Iraq.

As has been pointed out ad nauseam by many others, the UN never authorized the invasion.

Re:   oil for food----under Cheney, Halliburton had absolutely no moral or ethical problem with evading sanctions.

For Bushites to try to claim the moral high ground now smacks of more than a little hypocrisy.