They're starting to open up the torture chambers. I don't know how people who worked so hard to keep this regime in power can look in the mirror, or sleep at night.

It's really really simple. They sleep at night because its illogical to worry about regimes who starve, maim and torture their populations.

We're not going to do anything about most of them anyway. If there wasn't a perceived security threat from Iraq, we wouldn't be doing anything about it now. We didn't even do anything after they gassed the Kurds.

A 1000 people were murdered in the Congo this week bringing the death toll up to the largest civilian deaths since WW2. Mugabe has 6 million of his own people being deliberately starved. Turkey use torture against dissidents.

We just don't care. Stop pretending.

Cynical, aren't we?

> Cynical, aren't we?

Not overly. No. But I have been called cynical.

If given the choice between being a cynic in these matters or a hypocrit, my personal code says cynic has to win.

It would be hypocritical, as a critic of the actions of my government and the US one over the way this has been conducted, to turn around and say, oh it was all worth it.

I'm glad the Iraqi people are free of Saddam Hussein, but, being realistic, that wasn't the goal of this action, and we certainly aren't going after other offenders because they simply don't appear on our radar. Nor am I convinced the Iraqi people will stay full of goodwill forever either. To do so would be heinously irresponsible.

Of course no one expects them to have goodwill forever. I am content with their goodwill for now. That will depend on the future, and (partly) on our future actions. After all, the French and Germans seem to have forgotten, a half century on.

> After all, the French and Germans seem to have forgotten, a half century on.

There is an amusing irony to this :-)

Yes, it has been known to work. On the other hand, a year after we won in Afganistan, the airforce are still having to bomb targets and there are regular "terrorist" attacks by "irregulars". I hope Iraq goes more smoothly.

So do I, but even if not, the Afghan people are still better off without the Taliban, as are the Iraqis without Saddam.