I'm sure our government has a few ulterior motives as well; and oil is probably one of them.

I don't think oil per se is a big ulterior motive here.  Sure, GW and Dick are going to make sure their oil buddies get first crack at the "rebuilding" of the Iraqi oil fields - but that won't change much for Joe American.  Gas will still cost $1.50 a gallon and we'll still want to drill Alaska.  But instead of some Saudi or Iraqi or whoever getting rich - it's going to be someone from Austin or Dallas or Houston.  SSDD.  I see the oil slant as just a Lone Star bonus.  The real deal is getting our foot in the Middle East.  From there we can launch attacks at Iran, Syria, and maybe Saudi Arabia.  Hey, our military will be in harms way - we'll have to defend ourselves.  And when we subdue all the militant Muslims - peace will suddenly come to Isreal.   It's how the whole projection of power thing works.  Strike first without having to worry about it later.  It'll work in Korea as well.

But don't you think the world will be a better place with Saddam gone, once and for all?  Why would anyone even consider leaving him in power?

Flash forward 12 months and Dale says - "wouldn't the world be a better place without Ayatollah Ali Khamenei?"  Or maybe he said "wouldn't the world be a better place without Kim Jong Il?"  Where does the Bush Doctrine end?

Now, I'm not saying that Hussein is a great guy or even a good leader - but the facts remain.  Bush and his crack team have not shown any evidence to back up their claims that he 1)had anything to do with 9/11, Al Qaeda, or Bin Laden 2)has a nuclear program that's merely days away from going global or 3)poses a direct threat to me or anyone of my fellow Americans.  These are all reasons he gave last night for wanting to invade and occupy Iraq - spending a few hundred billion dollars in the process.  And if you look at the evidence - it's a lie, a forgery, and a lie in that order.  The worst part of this, I think, is the current reason (ie. big lie) that we're doing this for the Iraqi people.  What a crock of shit.  Tell that to them when the multi-ton MOABs start falling from the sky.  Or when civilian bloodshed starts in ernest when the different factions calling themselves Iraqi start their quests for power.  The con job continues - and a bad one at that.

Dan