Easytimes - stop linking Iraq to 9-11. It makes you look like an idiot.

You're not listening - Saddam was ANTI Al-Qaeda.

The Afghanistan invasion was in response to 9-11. That's fine.

The 'trigger point' for Iraq you refer to, wasn't so much a 'trigger point' as an interpretation of intelligence - a false one at that.
It was the search for WMD. I do think the US honestly believed there were WMD there, though I suspect they interpreted intelligence in the manner that suited them.

They believed that because they wanted to.

9-11 however, was no trigger point for Iraq. I repeat - Iraq isn't part of the war on terror. It's a sideshow that distracts from the war on terror. Please try to understand this.

This isn't something you can just make an opinion on. It's a fact. Even Bush didn't link Iraq to 9-11, except by making references to 9-11 after references to Iraq.

If you actually understood the politics of the region, you'd be aware it's not just some big entity you can draw a circle around.

If you knew what you were talking about, you'd be aware these nations are all quite different to one another.

It's quite clear you know very little about the politics of the region, but feel the need to make apologies for the US regardless of the facts of the matter. Honestly, get a clue.

TRTL – You have miss understood me!

9/11 was the trigger/excuse they need to kick Saddam out! As much as I care they could have used Saddam stepping on a worm as the trigger to kick him out!

A trigger is a reason to tell the public there is a need to act! It does not have to be 100% true it just has to sound good!

I have not seen any evidence yet to link Saddam to 9/11. But I see plenty linking him to thousands of murderous acts which in themselves are a good enough reason to act against him.

I am fairly sure Saddam had some sort of chemical weapons after all he would not have been stuffing UN inspectors around for year if he did not have something to hide and I doubt he would have used every last one of them against the Kurds. I think the Americans may have destroyed them in the first air raids against Iraq after all I am sure they would have be primary targets to destroy.

Your quibbles trtl are merely proof that the main body of your argument is flawed and that you are trying to score some last minute consolation points. Too little to late I think!

Steel – The only thing the left does when it comes to human rights is to say how out raged they are. They talk a lot but you never see any action.

Foxy – I hope you are not trying to link Aussies to some of the crimes that occurred in East Timor!

Ginx and Bugsy – If either of you had any class you would admit that you have been proven wrong and exposed for the apparatchik of ignorance that represent.

ET, you it a "trigger", the Romans called it a pretext. It is/was of course glaringly obvious that the invasion of Iraq was "triggered" by a false pretext, even before the invasion took place. This does not matter. They tried it and failed. Much would have been forgiven by many if they had not failed under circumstances that even Colin Powell tried to convey to the president as being "difficult" (at best).

This is not a schoolyard game of rugby we are talking about here, where you can "at least you tried". The consequences of failure mean innocent lives being lost and soldiers families losing their loved ones, men and women of our own society scarred for life by the things they have to do.

The Romans did not reward failure, why should we?

Dear ET,

No, I'm not trying to link Aussies with some of the crimes in East Timor. I'm simply stating what I've read. And, if certain extremist groups did receive their training in Australia who is to blame for the
crimes they then go and commit?

Bugsy where does this “rewarding failure” come in? Whats the reward you are talking about?

Lets look again at what was happening before the liberation of Iraq. Hundreds of thousands of children under the age of 5 dying! And Bugsy says we should just leave things as they are! Who cares if all these children are dying! Bugsy doesn’t! Bugsy you can be a champion of procrastination if you like but when other go in and get their hands dirty don’t make a fool of yourself by bellowing like a dazed walrus at them for trying to better this world we all live in.

Foxy – Lets make this simple if you teach me to use a gun and then a few years late I go off and shoot somebody are you responsible?

Foxy don’t fall for the brain washing antics of the left. The left are all wind and no substance! They like to make a lot of noise but are completely incapable of any action. If they took any action they would leave themselves open to being branded hypocrites.

That’s why they are very vociferous but putting their money where their mouth is goes completely against the grain of the left.

I still have not heard any alternatives to George, John and Tony’s Stratagem.

Dear ET,

I am responsible, if I supplied you with the gun ...