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[me] pokes his head into this thread...[/me]
I've been following (kind of) the building tensions in the middle east since early last year as part of a current issues class in school. (It was only a half year course and I've since graduated). Speaking stictly logically, it seems to me there are a few things happening here-
The essential core of the violence is not rooted in political interests- rather religion. Power driven enthusiasts such as Osama bin Laden use a religious clause to declare war on the US- Jihad. Through the jihad they declare the US what would be considered "satanic" from a christian perspective, despite the millions of Muslims living in the US. Thus resulting in the attacks of 9/11.
Similarly, this stereotype is applied in reverse to Muslims and Arabs from an "American" perspective. Particularly since 9/11, Americans have generally thought of the arabic/muslim people as terrorists, resulting in ethnic stereotyping and discrimination. I was in a class where 95% of the students could write or speak nothing more than "bomb the muslims, they should all die." (rendering me politically and socially alone in the class, to the point where it was literally me on one side of the room, 28 on the other)
Throw in some political issues such as oil, weapons of mass distruction, paranoia (natural side effect of 9/11), and you have Saddam. I can't speak for the US government, since I know not very much about the specifics of the situation, but it seems to me like America is using everything combined as leverage to be rid of a pestilence which has been around for years. Again, I don't know enough about the situation to pass judgement, but from an "uninformed civilian" watching the story unfold through short media bits, rumor and speculation, it seems such to me. Personally, I think Saddam should be dealt with, but a hardcore all out bombing operation may not be the best method or solution, based on any number of side effects in all the previous posts, positive and negative alike.
Just my half a cent, let me know if anything makes any sense, I typed all this running on 4 hours of sleep.
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