Oh boy...
The greatest military minds of all time have constantly said the same thing. The best way to secure peace, and sustain it, is to always be prepared for war. I would love it if pacifism worked, but, unfortunately, it doesn't. Iraq was a bad situation waiting to happen.
Our CIA said that there were weapons, but they didn't know where. UN Weapons Inspectors told the UN that there were weapons, and Saddam was hiding them. What did they get for their troubles? They got replaced. UN WI got the message that they'd best say nothing is in Iraq or lose their job. Hussien Saddam said he was in charge of nuclear researh, and he was ignored by the entire world. What did he get for his troubles? He was killed by his cousin's son, Uday Hussien.
How close was nuclear research to complete? That may be impossible to say. However, one defector, that we rescued from an Iraqi prison, said that telling Saddam Hussien that nuclear arms research was futile was thrown in jail.
I could have told you we would have opened diplomatic channels by showing our military muscle. "Rouge" nations are actually willing to sit down and talk rather than play games. Syria isn't the only country that decided it might be better to talk. There's also only been one major incursion since Bush was elected, in Haidi (sp?), and he's handling that properly. For once, we are not sending a huge force into a civil war, rather we are sending a small contingent to secure our facilities and safety of diplomats. How many incursions occured during Clinton's first year where he overextended forces? We are, now, in a more favorable position to open diplomatic doors and, hopefully, stop incursions from occuring.
