[The Great Satan]

Think it through.

Why is it that regime change in Iraq is such a desideratum? Supposedly, it's because Saddam sponsors terrorism and has WMD. I say has WMD, not will have: this is about Iraqi disarmament according to the White House, correct? And the WMD we are talking about are not nukes, right?

Why would he sponsor terrorism? To attack the United States and its allies behind a veil of deniability, correct?

What good would WMD do him -- inasmuch as he is not suicidal? Well, he could use them to blackmail the US from responding to such clandestine attacks.

So, what would a clandestine Iraqi-sponsored terrorist strike backed up with a threat to use WMD look like, exactly?

Figured it out yet?

[MadIvan]

You are making a rather large assumption which is not bourne out by the facts: that Saddam is completely rational. I agree he has moments of rationality, or rather, cunning, but that is not consistent. Iraq was far smaller than Iran, yet Saddam attacked it anyway. If Saddam was rational, he would have realised what the response to the invasion of Kuwait would be, but he did it anyway. The whole thesis you put forward falls apart in the face of Saddam being less than rational, bourne of a capriciousness common among dictators.

His sons, I might add, are worse.

Regards, Ivan