Thanks for the words of sanity & wisdom -

The 1st link speaks for itself - the wisdom it contains is very self evident. I am sure there is no deliberate freudian slip in the naming of the source paper 'Weakly Standard' - that name is clearly apparant in the content starting with the 1st sentence of the article.

Re the second link, it covers part of what Ritter called Butler a liar over & included some of the words & reason that Ritter resigned over but which Ritter says was subsequently blatantly distorted into a completely different meaning. He said on CNN that this was the lie Butler was telling and reinforcing.

Point about Ritter is that apart from any vulgar and tawrdry (& as yet unproven) innuendo & character assasination, that he is being being bribed & is not capable of speaking from a position of authority, I have to say that on a scale of 1 to 100 I'll give him 90 & your sources 10 and I feel that is being generous.

Your approach seems to be ignoring that this Iraq matter, in the way it is being handled, is doing immense damage to US in the wider world but even greater than that is that people will be killed in big numbers. There is no simple way President Bush can overthrow the government of Iraq.
To do so requires from us people of the world *credible & reasonable* evidence - it isn't good enough for you to tell us Saddam is "gunna get us & we are suckers to believe he won't". It is far easier to believe that the worlds greatest statesmen of our day have more depth of perception and understanding of what is actually taking place than some of the material presented here as 'evidence' and apart from Tony Blair almost alone in UK - no other great statesmen including Powell seem to see merit in wthe line you are peddling.

Doug

"The guy (ritter)gets 400k to play with and does a 100% turnaround in his opinions.'

box - you have not proved either of these assertions (what does getting 400k to 'play with' mean ???? - what 100% turnaround has he done - did you ever read what he has said or listen to him ????)

Re my position re Saddam

What I think and what I can prove are two different things. I Think Saddam is a regular asshole. I don't think he is quite the asshole Bush says he is. I would be happy to see Saddam go to hell.

I think Saddam has been still trying to build some nuke capability - I think Saddam is a typical Arab dictator who in the past fucked up badly in choosing his friends (with friends like he thought he had, who needs enemies - ever).

I don't believe for an instant that Saddam would use a nuke against America. I believe OBL would but OBL is *not* Saddam. Overthrowing Saddam for something OBL *might* do is pure shit.

I think that if Bush produces *any* credible evidence that Saddam has evil intent toward the US then the US should do what it believes it needs to to protect itself. But Bush has not done so.

I also feel really pissed off at those people in positions of power in the US who are so bloodymindedly brainless as to be generating so much ill will to the USA after so many people worldwide felt so strongly for the US ater 9/11. I have so many valued & good frieds in the US who are good and sensible people who deserve to be thought of so much more highly than Rumz & Cheney & Bush's odium being generated. Powell at
least still has credibility outside the US and among many within but 2-gun Rumz is the man carrying the day.

Go read this weeks Newsweek & TIME & see what your own journalists are saying on this topic. I, like many of them, am angry. These power mad bastards running the US are unfit for office anywhere. It isn't as if Bush won a lanslide election and can claim he had a mandate from the elctorate. What they are doing to the image of the US will hurt decent US people for a long time to come. I truly doubt that the harm done in the past few months can be undone. As Newsweek article said Bush hasn't got a clue about diplomacy.

If this message isn't coming through loud and clear then I feel sorry for you. I have too many good friends & had too many good times in the US to hold back on what I see happening by way of growing ill-will to USA outside of the US. I believe this fact just isn't getting through the propaganda wall.

Doug Marker