[cdxx]

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Quickly, to list a few provocations:

-firing daily on US planes in no-fly zones

-many years of defying/obstructing/delaying U.N. resolutions and inspections

-purportedly having attempted to have Bush #1 assassinated

-encouraging and helping fuel the cottage industry of Palestinian suicide-bombing with 50K payments to families of suicide-bombers

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first, a comment on the OP. rumsfeld's answers were ridiculous. i don't think he answered a single thing. i felt bad for the general who was with him. he at least tried to make a case for something, not useless rhetoric.

secondly, if a US plane is in a no-fly zone, aren't they breaking a treaty themselves? if an iraq plane showed up in a no-fly zone over DC, they would just fire at it. they'd blow it up four times before it hits the ground.

sure, iraq ignored UN resolutions, kicked out inspectors. it warrants action against iraq, perhaps even a full invasion, but the deaths of thousands of soldiers and civilians, together with the actual cost of the war suggests a harder diplomatic effort was in order.

US planned, tried, and successfully assasinated many different foreign leaders, many of those were democratically elected. a purported plot to assasinate bush #1 is the case for tougher security around the president, not invasion of iraq.

the biggest surporter of palestinian terrorist movement (freedom fighters my ass) was probably not sadaam. it is probably extreme factions in saudi arabia and iran. i can't back that up with facts, but i will stand corrected if you can prove the opposite.