Kosmos //Everyone now sees there was no justification for the war on Iraq, OK Saddam Hussein was a despot and was evil //
Excuse me. there was justification for war. It's that Bush and Blair did not play their second card and relied solely on WMD. On that score, I do think that Sadam had some, not as many as predicted and that they were spirited off into Syria with whom he had very close relationships.
Back to the second card though - The Brits found a grave of 5000 people just after a week of going into Basra, the Americans found a grave of 8000 north of Bagdhad. Then there was another for the Kurds of nearly the same magnitude - and we all knew about the mass take-out of the Shiite fishermen in the Euphrates delta - as they were hiding enemies of SH - there was even a Panorama documentary over this.
So genocide doesn't qualify for intervention by more "sane and responisble" nations? Is that what you are saying for if so, then we shouldnt have gone into the Balkans and we definitely shouldn't be in Libya as that was the "clever meglo" is doing, ordering the murder and rape of his own people. On this basis, we may well have been still under German rule if we hadnt taken out one Austrian - and I would hate to think what SH and MG would have got up to down the line if we had let them continued unchecked.
Would SH have gone for Saudi, perhaps....certainly the Saudis were seriously concerned. But this is all speculation and what if.
In cocnlusion I am fully in support of taking out MG and the quicker the better - will help end the military need and we can then help the country quickly recover. They have the means and resources to do so - and the enterprise. Its a fascinating country by the way, steeped in history and tradition.