>Very good! :-)
>
>I have a distinct impression that we're in this mess largely because Bush the 2nd (son) sort of privately promised Bush the 1st (father) that he would finish the one task, as president, that the elder Bush *really* regrets: not taking out Sadam H. when he had the opportunity, back in the Gulf War.
>
>To support this theory, this Iraq mess is so completely independent of 9/11 & Bin Laden/El Quaeda, I think you have to wonder what the motivation in going after Hussein so extremely vigorously is all about. It seems almost like a personal issue with Bush, does it not?
>
>Will younger Bush fulfill the promise? I don't know, but clearly, he's sure as heck trying hard...

I saw an episode of PBS's Frontline that delved into this issue. The driving force behing a policy of preemption or prevention, rather than containment, seems to be the brainchild of Paul Wolfowitz (sp?), the #2 guy at the Department of Defense under Don Rumsfeld. This policy goes back to shortly after Gulf War I. If I remember correctly, the policy was leaked to the press back in the early 90s, then shelved during the Clinton years.