FAO: Mark and Tina

I don't think there will be many up for that because if it goes pear shaped your in for weeks of torture before your death & your family will all be shot

Erm most shahid muslims living in iraq are anti saddam (thats 63% of the population), there are forever small uprisings which are crushed.... In the last gulf war this happened and they would of gained power but the americans pulled out.

If its happened before it can happen again.

Even within his own military there is contempt towards saddam, eh is constantly executing potential threats, in the last gulf war there was a coup - but again the yanks pulled all aid.

Saddam is not a loved man - he rules through fear... both are very realistic options - they have been considered in depth and used in the past.

As for another hussein or an evil sidekick taking his place - no1 can predict that. If you disrupt the power in a country it isn't a simple case of a family member taking his place - it doesn't work like the british monarchy... The country would be unbalanced and you'd see several forces try to take control.

Neither of these ways work in americas favour as they can't predict whether they get the oil.

If your looking for a muslim to take out Saddam I can name the man for the job Ozzie Bin Layden.

lol

Fair enough, 63% of the population might not like him but how many of them would be willing to stand up against him? If they trusted our government they probably would stand up to him but lets face it, the chances of our government pulling out and leaving them in the shit (as you say, America did it before) is quite high! Do the people who hate Saddam actually like our government or do they have the same feelings towards them as they do towards Saddam?

But, if an assination attempt was succesfully made (with no other military action) then I personally think that the army that Saddam has build up would crush any threats from within the country and another dictator would take his place, although as you say, nothing is guaranteed!

Personally, I would like to see an assasination attempt work for the simple fact that it would save lives but I'm not hopeful it would work but then again, I don't know what would work!

People are forever living and in the long term most oppressive dictatorships result in a rebelion - an uprising... yes people live in fear - but if people are forced into poverty with little chance of ever having a decent life (like many iraqi's) then yes they will be willing to fight... desperate times call for desperate messures... If you then provide these rebels with support then theres an even greater chance they will succeed.

When politcal powers are disrupted and unbalanced nothing is straight forward - if saddam was removed from power there'd be conflict within his military (different generals and politicians would want control) then there'd be the rest of iraq who wouldn't just stand by and let another dictator seaze power... as well as UN peacekeepers who would no doubt be introduced to the country.

Its not a simple case of killing 1 man.

i thought he was being honest. It was un-nerving to see a politician like that. Like seeing someone naked

I said I believed him, I didn't say I believe he is right.

I said I couldn't decide

Fair points but all of this is based on ifs, there is no guarantee that the Iraqi's will fight, especially if they see it as you do, the UK and US just want the oil! I'm not saying that I want us to go to war with Iraq, I don't, but I do think something must be done and if they Iraqi people won't/can't do it then surely we should intervene? If our governments are only in it for the oil then thats a different matter all together but I actually do have some faith in Tony Blair, I don't think he would be doing it for the oil! I do however, think that Bush is capable of doing something like this for his own gain and sadly, I think Blair could well be fooled by Bish into thinking he was doing the right thing!

The internal fighting within the army if Saddam was gone is a good point, and one that I hadn't considered, but this could make things worse? I know it isn't very likely but all possibilities must be taken into account!

I still fail to see how us invading Iraq is a good thing? You say it like it no 1 but saddam will be involved.

And if we're so righteous why onyl remove one oppresive dictator... this war isn't justified!

I don't think it is a good thing, getting rid of Saddam is, war and the death that goes with it isn't!!! If I knew the ins and outs of it all I would make a proper judgement on what I think we should do but as it stands I really don't know! What I was trying to say is that if the Iraqi's want rid of Saddam but can't do it for themselves then we should provide whatever support we can! It isn't our place to say how there country should be ran and I don't think it should be our decision to overthrow Saddam (unless he poses an immediate threat to us.....we don't know if he does or doesn't!!!).

I agree that if we want rid of Saddam for what he is doing then we should take the same stance with all of the other dictators!

I still don't think I have come across the way I want to in all this and I may have veered from the point a little.

Akkk! The journey from brighton to newcastle is evil!!
But I only have to do it a few times a year.

I'll be back for easter break sometime in march!!
Will hopefully see u then hunni!!

It's not as simple as just assasinating Hussein though. I don't think we have that much intelligence coming out of Iraq, we don't know where he is most of the time, arial bombardment probably wont do it, so how can we actually do it? Besides it's the regime that needs toppling not just one man.

As far as other brutal regimes go I think we, by that I mean the rest of humanity, should be a lot more aggresive and less tolerant. The UN is effectively the community of nations and should be a lot more willing to take action, military if need be, against dictatorships who abuse human rights. As fellow human beings we can't just stand back and say it's not up to us to do anything about it!!

Most of the Iraqis, most of the other Arab leaders, about 50% of European leaders believe we have to do something decisive about Saddam.... he's a very real threat who must be eliminated and soon! If we can't remove him and his regime clinically, which we can't, the weapons inspectors cannot prove that he has disarmed, which they can't, can anyone who opposes an invasion force come up with a viable alternative because right now I can't see one.

Having said all this, we have to have a decisive resolution from the UN mandating war, and mandating the removal of Saddam and his regime. Unilateral action from the US/UK would cause so much long term damage to the UN and NATO that it would threaten world peace more than Saddam ever could!

But something must be done and soon. I'm not a warmonger by any means but nor do I sit in the peace-at-any-cost camp, right now they just remind me of the Hitler appeasers in the late 30's. If you oppose war what's your alternative??

what bothers me is that I'd prefer to see the UK & Tony Blair being closer to Europe than to America

Cuba in on the US list of six nations that make up the axis of evil

pathetic!