"Little George" Bush is fond of Western metaphors; he essentially gave Saddam Hussein "48 hours to get out of town." But there is another Western metaphor that is more appropriate, and explains what we're doing in Iraq. In the bad old days, when duly constituted law enforcement was unable or unwilling to enforce the law, local citizens formed Vigilante organizations to deal with the bad guys. In the present situation, the UN is the duly constituted law, but they were unwilling to deal with Saddam, just as they were unwilling to deal with the situations in Rwanda, Bosnia, Somalia, Kosovo, and other places. So the US, Great Britain, Australia, and a few dozen other nations formed a Vigilante committee and hollered "Git a rope!" As is usual with Vigilante outfits, the Coalition is likely to cut a few legal corners. A goodly number of well-meaning folks protest that Saddam has not been declared a villain by a properly chosen court. Again, the court has failed to do its job.  So the Vigilantes ride, and legal niceties and innocent bystanders may get trampled. --Dick Hart, Wyoming Poet Laureate back