So, at a cost of trillions of dollars to the American taxpayer, George Bush finally got his bogey-man. The broken man was pulled from his "spider hole" by heroic American troops, and the world is once again a safe place, but what did "The Butcher of Bagdad" do to deserve this? For years, he was the darling of the American right wing, but one day, he stepped out of line by threatening America's favourite dictatorship in the region, Saudi Arabia, by invading Kuwait. Of course, we all remember what happened then, a war was fought and won, and all was well with the world again. So what was the reason for going back? According to George Bush, Hussein was the world's most dangerous man, hoarding huge stockpiles of Weapons of Mass Destruction, aiding and abetting the terrorists that attacked America on 9/11/2001, seeking nuclear armament, and threatening the security of the free world. Of course, even an idiot could see that these were all blatant lies, and while Hussein was truly an evil man, he wasn't capable of threatening the security of any other nation after having virtually all of his military hardware destroyed in the first Gulf War conflict, and being worn down by a plethora of sanctions, embargos, and continued bombing of his country.

As for the terrorist connection, anyone who took the time to even do 10 minutes of research on the matter would know that Hussein ruled with an iron fist, and terrorist groups were not tolerated in the regions of Iraq that he controlled. Despite the implied and specifc connections between Hussein and the September 11th terrorist attacks constantly fed to us through the American media, and George Bush, anyone who knew anything about the matter was fully aware that not only did Hussein not assist al-Quaeda in any manner, but he positively hated them. The feeling was mutual, with one of the tenet's of al-Quaeda's beliefs calling for the destruction of Hussein's secular government. The man was clearly an infidel - he even allowed synagogues into his country.

On the subject of his alleged stockpiles of "Weapons of Mass Destruction", again, a minimal amount of research would reveal that the only WMDs that he ever possesed were supplied to him by his old ally - the USA. The reason that the UN inspections didn't reveal any stockpiles of these deadly armaments were simply that he no longer had any - not that the UN inspection teams were inefficient, or that he was a master of hiding them. Again, many people could have told you this before the sequel to the Gulf War was ever launched, but for even the staunchest believer in the deceptions of George Bush, the truth is now painfully obvious.

Though Americans will bear a burden of financial debt for this farce for years to come, the real victims are the Iraqi people who have been murdered in the course of the American lead war. The 3,000 people that died on September 11th pales in comparison with the number of Iraqis murdered in the period from the first Gulf War to the present day. We've all heard the stories of "mistakes", such as a bus load of unarmed women and children being gunned down by nervous American troops at a checkpoint, but you can rest assured that there's a great deal more that we don't hear about in the mainstream media. Every American who supported this war is guilty of one of two things - either willfully and knowingly supporting an unjustifiable war for purely jingoistic reasons, or being so staggeringly stupid as to have not seen through the lies of their government and media in building up support for this invasion. Either way, they're as guilty as the men who flew jets into skyscrapers.

Of course, the lies don't end here. Amerca's stated goal of promoting democracy in the region is yet another totally transparent deception. America's refusal to turn over control of the country to Iraqi authorities, and their refusal to allow allow free elections to take place can only be for one reason - they know that free elections won't go the way that they want, and so they continue their illegal occupation.

The severity of the wrongs done here can never be righted, but the truly right way to go is another thing that doesn't look like happening any time soon. Control of the reconstruction of Iraq should be turned over to the UN, and be funded exclusively by the countries that took part in this atrocity. Bush, Blair et al should be handed over to international authorities, and tried as war criminals, and financial reparations should be paid to the people of Iraq by the guilty coalition members. Any country that refused to take part in this debacle should be truly proud of themselves. France, Germany, Canada, and all the others that said "No" to Bush, despite the ongoing bribe of lucrative reconstruction contracts should be commended for standing up for what is right and decent, and should be the ONLY countries allowed to bid on reconstruction projects.

So, Bush caught his monster, but there is a far more evil man still at large, who poses a threat to the security of free nations unheard of since the fall of Hitler. To hope that Bush is held accountable for his crimes is a fool's hope, but we can all hope that this monster doesn't get to serve another terms as president, and that maybe somebody with at least a shred of decency will become president at the end of 2004. If you are a citizen of America, use your vote wisely, and don't allow this man to dig your country even deeper into the dirt.