Peg,

"You bring to our attention that which today's war-mongers seem to quickly forget or de-emphasize...that in the past there have been far worse situations in which we chose to do little or nothing. This underscores the selfish and greedy motivation which lies at the heart of the rush to war against Iraq."

Most of the incidents referred to in the past were handled at some stage by the UN, or completely ignored by the UN - which is big on words and very, very limited on action - that is if they can ever actually rouse themselves from their nigh on terminal apathy.

The one instance he does raise - Kosovo - where NATO took "unilateral" action without the backing of the UN was successful in saving life, and brought down Slobodan Milosevic - currently on trial for crimes against humanity in the Hague. The "Peace Protesters" were out in their thousands on that occasion just as they are now. The French were dragging their heels like crazy then, just as they are now. Had those protesters and France been heeded then ethnic Albanian muslems would have continued being butchered in their thousands and Milosevic would still be in power. That was something that responsible leadership from heads of state within the NATO alliance could not afford to ignore - The "Peace Protesters" could though on the premise that "I'm all right Jack - pull up the ladder", and "Isn't it lovely haven't we done our good deed for humanity" - Aye bloody right ask any Albanian from Kosovo who managed, against incredible hardship, to survive that period what their take on that would be - I'm fairly certain of their answer.

As far as your last sentence goes:

"This underscores the selfish and greedy motivation which lies at the heart of the rush to war against Iraq."

BOLLOCKS - complete and utter, unmitigated - BOLLOCKS