Excellent question Rich.

Here is my take...

No, it does not matter. War with Iraq was as predictable as the sunrise. It would have happened regardless of how it was sold to the American public the rest of the world because of 9/11. Whether or not they had WMD was just an attempt to galvanize the international community into a coalition. Seems the rest of the world did not buy into that line...

If the USA is looking to improve its 'security' I submit to you that alienating the UN, NATO and arab countries is not a very wise place to start.

Just removing a brutal dictator from power is all the justification we need for our soldiers and innocent civilians to kill and be killed? Ok...when do we go get Kim Jong Il?? ...after all, isn't he starving millions of his own people to death to feed his army? Better yet, lets start knocking off the problem countries (we'll start with the middle east and then work our way downto the commies and third world countries) until the whole world is Democratic...does anyone see the parallels between communist pathos and the direction of 'New American Foreign Policy'?

I seem to recall that diplomacy HAS worked in the past to bring down 'brutal' regimes, apartheid being one succes that comes to mind.

Lasting Peace has never and will never occur by the use of force.