Well, if it's the only way to fix the problem (I don't exactly think we can talk Hussein into not being a malevolent despot)...

Do NOT underestimate Saddam Hussein. Other than this offer of talks, can you think of one recent instance where he has not played his cards right? When it comes to securing his position, he is quite gifted.


To Oneangrydwarf: Note that John Bono qualified his statement. He did not say that war is good. He said that war with Iraq is the best course of action at the moment. Really, there is no other choice. Hussein is not going to step down, and will not give up his control over his country. Thus, force WILL be necessary. It doesn't matter when we do it, as long as we don't allow him enough time to set up disastrous contingency plans. Of course, it's way too late for that . . .

He is doing it because he believes it will be an oppurtunity for him to publicly humiliate Bush. Hussein is a very smart man, just a little misguided.

why should he have to step down? We have no right to tell him to step down.

Democracy is will of the people being ruled...not the will of some other democratic country...

If we want them to be truely democratic they must do it themselves, and not be simply a puppet government that we put into place and use for our own reasons.

I still dont think war is the only answer.

Hissein has so much bloody power over there that the people are afraid to speak against him. The trouble with letting them form their own democratic government, in my view, is that since he has just about every election rigged (HELLO! 100% approval rating!), someone (US) has to step in and straighten everything out. A democracy cannot be started if the current leader doesn't let it happen, and do you really think Hussein is going to say, "Oh, you know what? You're right, I am being unfair.", and step off? Think about what all the people of Iraq will do. They've been stuck under this tyrant for YEARS and have been too scared to do anything about it...what will happen when they realize he has lost all his power, especially if of his own will? I think he's mostly scared to step down, seeing as he's dug such a HUGE hole for himself. He's standing in his grave as it is...maybe he's provoking war so that he can go out with a bang.

rofl.
Rigged elections..

Did you know that 3 different countries sent observers to our country during the last round of elections because they wanted to make sure a repeate of the 2000 election didn't happen.

We cant even elect a president so we have no room to talk about fair elections...
and its common knowlege that the us government has been rigging elections from vietnam, laos, the middle east, south america, europe all over for the last 50 years.

But i am done on this thread cuz this argument is getting no where fast and its a waste of time we are all entitled to our opinions but its dumb to argue about them.

Make Bush and Saddam duel....what's what they're gonna do anyway.

I agree. The world of lego is a better place...until you stage a town riot!

I live in Florida but I'm a New Yawker at heart! :D

I'm an Islander!

He's not provoking war. He's not trying to provoke us. Rather, he's trying to stall our war efforts. He's not dumb, he knows he's not going to win. He wants to remain in power. If he were trying to incite us to attack, would he be playing the UN dissent like he is? Would he ever have allowed inspectors back in? No, he's trying to take away our ability to justify a war.

I have a proposal: how about we take care of him the way we did (and are doing) with Fidel Castro? We continue the embargo, and wait for public resentment to build up, and when the outcry is greater than the despot's health, interesting stuff happens. Best of all, we can't be called bullies. All we are doing is voicing our opinions on the leadership of the country, and the rest is up to the citizens, whatever god you wish to pray to, and the immune systems of the annoying guys. Yes, it takes a little longer, but I think it's better in the long run. Again, look at Cuba. It's already getting a little better, and Castro is still in power.

What he said ^

i wont even get started on the embargo with cuba....

Mark, don't talk about things you don't know about. I don't know where to start. First, as a side note... The election wasn't rigged, Saddam was just the only person to run :) not that that matters at all. You're absolutely right, Saddam is a militaristic dictator, and has been for some 30 years. Saddam has also kept his people alive through 10 years of UN imposed sanctions that have reduced a once first world country to third world poverty. Saddam has instituted a food subsidization program that 60% of Iraq depends on to live. for 25 cents, they get enough food to feed their family for a month, the 25 cents is only to pay the expenses incurred in delivering the food.
What? What about the overthrow of the USSR? That was a completely internal revolution. And, lets just say that a democracy is instituted. For some reason we think that democracy will transform the country. Consider this: who will run? more fundementalists. Who will get elected? A Islamic fundementalist. Will this leave the country in a better state than it was? no!

Is it a war for oil... perhaps partially. It does beg the question, why aren't we going after the larger threat of North Korea. Is it a war to lift American Spirits? maybe. All I know is that it's a war that doesn't need to be waged. Containment worked for the USSR, containment worked in an almost identical situation in Egypt. Containment will work in Iraq.

The overthrow of the USSR happed because of the Communist party itself. They tried to lean a little, the people became smart, then there was the coup and then the overthrow. I agree, there cannot be deomcracy when the leader kills all efforts by the people. But also, this is a war for oil. Mabey not 100% oil, but a good portion.

Why is everything I say on this forum wrong? *mood just took a huge turn for the worst*

To all those people that say we are hipocrits because we make weapons and wont let Iraq build weapons---- We can make weapons more one major reason...WE PRETTY MUCH CONTROL THE U.N.... We are the primary seat in the U.N. Countries in the U.N. can make weapons... We do make weapons like everyone else but you forgot one thing... We don't make weapons of mass destruction... We make weapons that are legal unlike Iraq and North Korea...