[Eagles6]

I like Ben Stein, but a mistake? One of the reasons that we were hit on 911 was because saddam wasn't dealt with. He trained terrorists to attack us. Abu Yasin and Ramsey Yousef flew from Baghdad on Iraqi passports, blew up the World Trade Center and Yasin went back to saddam's open arms. That in itself was an act of war. The no wmd mantra goes on. Say it enough...We did find wmd, not the large stockpiles (they're in syria btw) that he admitted he had, but enough to kill hundreds of thousands.

Saddam had uranium, parts and plans for enrichment centrifuges, plans for nuclear weapons and, most importantly, the intent to build a weapon and use it against the US.

With the sanctions all but gutted, the UN corrupted for annan on down, most members of the Security Council openly trading with saddam, what other decision could have been made?

[jazusamo]

I completely agree that the reasons you list are valid reasons for going to war in Iraq and that the war itself was not a mistake.

I believe if we pull out prematurely and it allows the radical muslim element to get a foothold in Iraq and go on to control its resources that it will have been a huge mistake.

I wasn't really clear on the point that Stein was making in this article but didn't think he meant that going to war in the first place was a huge mistake.