To: Dan B. who wrote (363658 ) 2/26/2003 12:20:10 PM From: American Spirit Read Replies (3) | Respond to of 769667 Saddam is in a box. Meanwhile we have greater threats. This war hurts our war on terrorism. It leaves us vulnerable from North Korea. The war will also be a massive budget-buster and continue queering the economy. The pay-off to Turkey alone is a budget buster. The GOP is now telling us it's worth it to defend America, but I see no imminment threat from Saddam, do you? And unlike the Gulf War the US has to shoulder 90% of the cost and 90% of the troops. With British opinion so against us, it's a big question whether they'll even put much of an effort in. Spain and Italy, plus some East Euro countries and Kuwait. everyone else thinks WE are the bad guys now. If I were Bush I'd have finished the war on Al Qaida first, then tried to make peace in Israel, then used covert action to take Saddam out or just seize his oil-fields "for the Iraqi people". Bush doesn't care much about international public opinion anyway so why not surprise Saddam instead of announcing war and going the UN route? If he doesn't believe in the UN why did he go to them? Once you're going with the UN you have to stick with them and Bush doesn't want to. How many times have Bushies dissed the inspectors? Now we've got a situation where we're damned if we do, damned if we don't. At this point the war is more about political Bush's pride than anything. To begin with it was about diverting our attention from domestic failures prior to the November elections. In sort, the whole set-up is a mess because it was dishonestly conceived from the beginning. And now it's really costing us because the world doesn't trust us and we don't have a clear end-game or purpose. We're doing it for "peace"? Saddam is a creep but has not made war in more than a decade. But we have, and we are again. Bushies are telling us it's not about the oil. Bill Bennett was on TV last night saying that's a "lie". Well he's the liar. Of course it's mainly about oil. And it had better be at this point. We have to spend 200+ billion and not get any of it reimbursed from Iraqi oil? Again damned if we do damned if we don't. And all this with Saddam in a tight box. This is a massive foreign policy screw-up in the making. The world is paralyzed while Bush figures out a way to start war. And our fighting men and women plus our tax-payers may be paying a steep price. UNLESS Saddam just gives up at some point. Anything is possible, but this whole thing is a costly, risky gambit which we didn't need.