Where are the WMD?
I must admit to being mildly surprised that no nuclear weapons have been found in Iraq. It seems so out of character of Saddam not to have been trying hard to acquire them. I question whether he was being lied to by his scientists about the extent of their progress. Who would want to be the one to break the bad news to him that the uranium enrichment programme was't quite on track?

It's also possible that Iraq was fooled into spending money on useless technology and research by foreigners in the same way that middle-class kids get sold oregano instead of cannabis when venturing into the ghetto for their weekend fix. It's not that far fetched. In fact something similar forms part of the plot of 'Back to the Future'.

Of course the coalition attack on Iraq did locate evidence of WMD construction ... in Libya! So it can't be said to have been a total failure if measured purely in terms of removing weapons from our enemies. The fact that Colonel Gaddafy started his discussions with the west around the time that he saw that Britain and the US were serious about removing Saddam cannot be a coincidence.

One of the drawbacks to Tony Blair's attempts to get UN approval for the war was that it gave the former Iraqi regime several months to hide anything that it wanted to get rid of over the Syrian border. It wouldn't be a great shock to me if this occured. After all, Syria is also run by a Ba'ath party. Part of me believes that something was moved there in that 'rush to war' that dragged on for months and months and months.

Now comes a report that the weapons were moved there. It comes from a Syrian journalist who recently defected. He has terminal cancer and thus now has no reason to fear retribution from his government.

You can read what he has to say if you Click here!

I don't know what to make of this. However, I am sure that the world is going to be a safer place since the fall of Saddam. I noted earlier this week that the countries that have been bombed by Islamic extremists are those that opposed the US actions. I forgot to mention in the list the Chechens who stormed into the theatre in Moscow. Their cause was not connected to the situation in Iraq, but to me it's notable that the Russian decision not to support the US against a muslim nation didn't lead the Chechens to relax in their war against the Russian government. I also forgot that the shoe-bomber Richard Reid boarded a flight from Paris to Miami for his attempt at mass murder and would have killed French people along with Americans had he succeeded.

In fact I can't think of any attack on any of the countries who did give support to the US. Poland, Australia, Portugal, Britain and Spain have not been targeted. What is the lesson here? Could it be that strength is respected and weakness attacked?