Well Amos, there appears to be two distinct camps here on Mudcat one rather large one which condemns George W Bush outright and firmly places the blame squarely on his shoulders for all the ills of the world. The other much smaller appreciates the actions taken, and reasoning behind some very hard decisions that have been taken.

Now as far as dreamy interpretations go:

Point 1 - The action taken against Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and the subsequent toppling of the Taleban in that country came about by some very poor judgement calls on the part of the Taleban leadership. It was entirely in their power as to how they responded to the US request to hand over the leadership of Al-Qaeda. They had experienced US retaliation under Clinton and seriously underestimated the will and strength of purpose of the Bush Administration in the wake of 911, their choice, their mistake.

Point 2 - The vast majority (90%) of civilians killed in Afghanistan have been as the direct result of Taleban actions. If the Taleban had responded to appeals made by the Government since the elections in Afghanistan the death toll would have been greatly reduced and the country would be experiencing the benefits and prosperity its people so richly deserve.

Point 3 - During the summer, autumn and winter of 2002, the world and its dog believed that Saddam Hussein and Iraq still possessed WMD, was running WMD research and development programmes and was working on development of missile delivery systems. Clear proof of that is the fact that UNSC Resolution 1441 was passed unanimously (even Syria voted for it). We now know from a source close to Saddam Hussein that Saddam Hussein deliberately fostered belief in the Iraqi possession of WMD amongst his neighbours. The information on what Saddam Hussein's WMD capability and potential were came direct from the UN - that was the "bad intelligence", but given a situation in which there is a certain compunction to act, you have to go with whatever "intelligence" that you have got, be it good or bad. The compunction to act from the perspective of the USA was that sanctions against Saddam's Iraq were about to be lifted and the whistle had just been blown on Irans nuclear programme.

Point 4 - During the Presidency of Jimmy Carter undue emphasis was placed on technological gathering of intelligence at almost the complete elimination of human intelligence sources. This came about as a result of the Iran Hostage crisis and meant that in much of the middle-east US intelligence operated blind and massive intelligence "black-holes" were created.

Point 5 - When the US applied pressure on the UN and on Iraq to resolve all outstanding issues with regard to UNSC Resolutions 687 and 1441, Saddam Hussein had a choice to make. In fact he had three options:
- Come clean and stay in power;
- Defy the UN openly;
- Attempt to play for time with the assistance of his trading partners France, Russia and China.

He rather unwisely chose the latter. Even when it was obvious in mid-March that the US was going to act, Saddam Hussein was given a chance to leave Iraq, again he made the wrong choice and ultimately paid for it with his life (Not that he would have survived long outside Iraq's borders, but that is mere speculation on my part). The responsibility for the war in Iraq rests entirely with Saddam Hussein, who could have easily have prevented it on at least two distinct occasions.

Point 6 - The vast majority of casualties and deaths in Iraq have been perpetrated at the hands of Iraqi insurgents, sectarian militias, Al-Qaeda-in-Iraq & other foreign jihadists, criminal gangs. Their decision to fight was theirs and theirs alone. The ruthlessness of sacrificing any heavily populated areas was deliberate and unconscionable, but that was done by the insurgents, the sectarian militias and Al-qaeda-in-Iraq. It was done Amos, to try and ignite a "Civil War", fortunately they failed and failed miserably. The population of the country in general has turned against them. The remaining insurgets and Al-Qaeda-in-Iraq are in General Giap's terms "fish out of water".

Point 7 - The thing I find despicable Amos are those here who openly state that they would rather have seen Saddam remain in power. At least at the moment there is the prospect of improved security and prosperity for the people of Iraq, they have a chance of enjoying a bright future which certainly never existed under Saddam's rule.