>Chris,
>
>Here's what it all boils down to...
>
>The U.S. and the U.K. insisted to the rest of the world that there are weapons of mass destruction in Iraq that posed an immediate threat to the security of the free world AND that Iraq was in league with Al-Qaida and other terrorist groups and so posed a clear and present danger to freedom-loving people throughout the world.

As I have pointed out numerous times, we know that the WMDs were there in the past. Of that, there is no doubt. What we don't know is what happened to them. Are we to take Saddam's word that he destroyed them? No, of course not. If the world has learned anything since the fall of Iraq, it was this was a man you could not trust under any circumstance. We and the UK have known it for over 12 years. It's time the rest of the world opened their eyes, despite their obvious anti-American feelings.

>Despite the protestations of many countries the U.K. and U.S. and Australia and Poland declared war on Iraq in order to prevent those WMD from ever being used and in order to ensure that terrorist support was no longer forthcoming from the Iraqi government. That caused the loss of thousands of lives and the maiming of thousands of lives and the introduction of chaos to millions of Iraqi citizens.

Yes, thousands of lives were lost. But many more would have been lost in the future is Saddam remained in power. Where is the outrage over that? This is more about anti-Americanism than anything else. You and other are protesting the thousands of lives lost. When you and other are as vehement at protesting the hundreds of thousand of lives lost under Saddam's regime, I'll pay more attention.

>Now, long after the war ended, there has been no connection made to any terrorist group that is endangering the free world and NO WMD ARE IN SIGHT.

Long after? It's been 2 months! Geez, for someone who was so adamant about giving the inspectors, you have suddenly become quite impatient.

>The U.S. government, aided and abetted by the U.S. media, has successfully shifted reasoning for the war from that of preserving world security to one of ridding Iraq of a cruel dictator in the minds of a good majority of the American public.
>That is not so in the rest of the world!
>The rest of the world took the U.S. and the U.K. at their word and no amount of hindsight/fact-twisting/liberal-interpretation of U.N. or CIA or MI5 or CENTCOM or Rumsfeld or Wolfowitz or President Bush report/statements/speeches is going to change that.
>In fact it is only serving to dramatically diminish the esteem of the U.S. and the U.K. through the world while at the same time increasing the perception through the world that the U.S. is a danger to peace and security on this planet.
>That the U.S. and U.K. misstated the level of danger in now clear to the world. At least the finding of WMD in reasonable quantity and in useable form will help, but only by showing that there was not outright lying going on but permitting the plausible argument that there was only misjudgement involved.

Is it not obvious from your last paragraph how anti-American you are? You write that finding WMDs in reasonable quantities and useable form will only help. Geez, talk about moving the goal posts. If they are found, it will prove everything we have been saying.