>>Using WMD as an excuse was merely a formality which was blown out of proportion by Frenchmans desire for international recognition

No, this pretext has to be blamed on the Bush Administration. They are the ones who pushed the WMD argument, not the French. And a great argument it is. We say that Iraq has WMD and the UN sends inspectors. The inspectors find no weapons and rather than admit that we might be wrong, we announce that the fact that the weapons can't be found is proof that they are being hidden. We need to invade Iraq because we can't find WMD, of course if we find them we also need to invade them.

Of course the American media follows the Bush lead. Everytime they find a can of hairspray in Iraq the headlines Read "POSSIBLE CHEMICAL WEAPONS FOUND" when it turns out to be a non weapon the story is buried. Of course they keep this WMD charade going along with a background of 9/11 so that people can claim that we are defending ourselves.

What I respect about your post Joe, is that even though you support the invasion, you show that you have given it some thought and you are not just regurgitating the sound bites.