Hey, I did call him bloody-thirsty and violent. :) "Tyranical" might be a good adjective, too. My point is that a lot of crap is flying out the the current administration about how evil he is, but the arguments they are using are fundamentally flawed because they HAVE NO EVIDENCE. Our allies aren't buying it and neither should US citizens.

By justifying military action and the deaths of Iraqis and American soldiers for the sole reason that "we don't like him" makes a mockery of our own American values of justice and self-determination. If WE don't practice what we preach, what's to convince anyone else to follow our lead?

I think that Saddam's recent attempts at international politics and negotiation should not be dismissed out of hand. Even the "bad guys" moderate over time. Arafat used to be a full-fledged radical terrorist; none of this diplomacy stuff. So did Sharon, who blew up more than his fair share of Palestinian civilians when Israel was trying to establish a sovereign nation, but now he's a prime minister.

As long as Saddam is willing to come to the table and talk, why not? It's not like we aren't going to stop spying on him or get rid of our army camped on his doorstep in the meantime.

(Because peace doesn't help you win elections, that's why not.)