Battle gear time....

I believe we are being forced into that which we have always fought against.....a Police State Nation under continious martial law. (e.g., Like Russia, China, etc.).

There seems to be no other alternative unless we capitulate under the pressures of dictatorships and radicals abroad. And that is NOT an option.

Time to put away our toys....and prepare for the final combat which we knew....would have to come someday. Lets do it right and get it over with!.

France can side with the winner later.

There is no war against Iraq, and there will be no war unless the US attacks.

There is a war against Al Qaeda, but Saddam Hussein will not support his enemies. In his latest speach, Bin Laden told the muslems to fight the USA, but not in the name of "socialist" regimes which have abandoned Islam (e.g. Saddam Hussein). The main objective of Al Qaeda is to fight secular regimes and "crusaders" in the Arab world.

I will support an attack on Iraq if Saddam Hussein launch terrorist attacks on the US or Europe. Not before. The idea af a pre-emptive attack is short sighted, and will surely not put an end to terrorism. How can you be the good guys if you attack other nations? Do you really believe this is going to be the "final combat"?

For the record: I'm not a radical, and no passifist. In fact, part of my job is to design equipment for the US-marine corps and US Army (don't ask...) I supported the last Gulf war, as well as millitary actions in Kuwait, Kosovo, Somalia etc.

regards, Erlend.

Larry,

Think it out just a litle. The administration, acting as bully, picked Iraq as it's victim. As in most schoolyard bullying brawls, it chose a good one to pick on. Iraq's leadership is despicable.

Then the administration worked itself into a lather, using a lot of rumor, and then worked the rest of the country up, too. Luckily, a bunch of other countries (not just France) have asked real questions and kept some cool. But you sound like you are losing yours. Get out of your battle gear, and maintain your cool. People will die if you (and a bunch of other people) do not think this out a little better.

Alex

well, I guess I'm dragging myself back in here for a bit...Just have a few things to say, then will most likely excuse myself as most of us have hammered through this before.
I beleive the UN will definately agree to authorizing the use of force. To not do so would pretty much be the end of the UN. If there are no consequences to breaking their rules, what point is there to follow them? Many keep saying 'let the inspectors have time to work'; they've had over a decade. These aren't new rules here. what good are rules if they are not enforced? Making new rules won't help as the violator has already established their intent to not follow them. The UN has to show their seriousness; what will happen if they are ignored? Allowing Iraq to go on ignoring them will just make matters worse. If nothing is done to Iraq, what will the North Koreans think? They'll just keep demanding things from us to keep them happy; although they never will be. Once we start giving in to their demands, what would make them stop asking for more? If these countries know nothing will ever happen to them, they can do, take, and demand anything they want. 'they won't hurt us as long as we leave them alone'. Gosh, I'd love to know how these appeasing people feel about my right to bear arms...
The problem here is that our current administration is in a series of liberal catch 22's. If they up the terrorist threat warning and nothing happens, the libs will say it was only upped to gain support for the 'oil war'; if something does happen and americans die, then the administration knew it would happen and let it to once again gain support for the war. Same thing with Iraq; if they use Weapons of Mass Distruction (the ones they don't have), we let them do it so we look good. If we take them out before they use them, then obviously they never had them to begin with and it was just cover for us to get oil. These same types of paradoxes will be used against the administration for everything from the economy to what meal is served at a state dinner. No matter what the end result is, good or bad, the Bush administration will always be wrong to these people (yes, the same people who didn't want a homeland security department as it was a waste of taxpayer money, but are now bashing the administration because it is not letting this same department have enough money in their eyes. It's all window dressing, these people will always gripe about something, no matter how hippocritical it makes them look. They say we can't touch Iraq because we don't have UN support. What happens when we do have UN support? They will come up with some other little reason why we are wrong. Then it will be that Iraq and North Korea are OK, it's the rest of the world that's crazy or something like that.