[OnyxCougar]

Originally posted by Radar
We had no valid reason to attack Iraq in 1991, and we still don't. And for the record, the UN has no authority over any sovereign nations. Becoming a member of the UN does not mean you've given up your national sovereignty.

It may not, but Iraq made an agreement. They agreed to the terms of that agreement, including possible consequences of breaking it. They broke that agreement.

You can't have it both ways, Radar. Either you recognize that you have an obligation to someone or you don't. IF Iraq had said "Screw the UN" from the outset, that's one thing. But they didn't. THEY recognized the UN's ultimatum and responded to it. THEY decided they were to be held accountable to the UN, and THEY made that determination as in their best interests.

So crying that Iraq is sovereign and doesn't have to listen to the UN really doesn't make a difference, if Iraq doesn't exercise that soveriegnty, and enters into an agreement with them.

Edit: And I read your link, but disagree. An agreement made is an agreement, period. "At the point of a gun" or not. We can argue all day about whether it was right for the UN to go beat his ass for invading Kuwait, be whether it was right or wrong, Saddam made an agreement, and then broke it.

The Allies forced the Germans to promise things that could never be delivered. And using force to exact promises from someone like Saddam Hussein creates about as much security as ordering your cat to guard your home. If the demands are unnatural (as expecting a country in the Middle East to disarm certainly is), you can expect a backlash.

So...wait a minute....telling Saddam to report all his WMD is unnatural? He gassed how many Kurds? How many Kurds and other people does he have to kill before he's considered a threat?

If you lived in Iraq, or some other country that had a regime so horrible, so awful as to kill it's own people on a MASSIVE scale, how do you get out? There's no demonstrations, no free speech, no freedoms, there is nothing you can do to get out of this country, or otherwise it would be empty by now. So who do you ask for help?

America may not be the most "right" or even the "best" country to live in, but it is a DAMN sight better than 99% of them. And before you ask, I have lived in Western AND Eastern Europe, including one of those countries that Mr. Brown severely oversimplifies about in this essay. And it IS an oversimplification. WW1 was NOT about one man.