LH:

The argument for bringing down Saddam's tyranny is persuasive, however much I agree with you that Bush is a loose cannon.

Tyranny is an enemy that even you and DougR can agree upon.

And there is no question that Iraq has been under the burden of tyranny. Your proposition about building an American empire is slightly off. I doubt we would know what to do with an empire of the kind you mean, if we had one.

I think we do want a planet united by commerce, productivity and open communication. I think we do want a planet where mass destruction of human lives is a bad memory, not a regular event. I do not think we want an American empire anymore than you and yours want a Canadian one. I think Bushwah sincerely believes -- delusorily or not -- that Hussein was a potential threat and a danger to such a community of nations. I don't agree with how he is managing that belief, but I think he believes it.

It is much too facile to attribute conspiracy and cosmic-scale madness to "others" as you know well. Bush may be the least deft and most reckless President the United States has ever had, but I do not believe he has any concept of colonializing anyone.

Commercial success is a different story --- any group working to produce something for exchange wants to succeed at it. But that desire is just as real to a Mexican truck-builder as it is to, say, Intel or Pfizer. It's why people form companies.

A