I've been thinking this over since yesterday evening, and have filled out the bulk of my thoughts on Afghanistan, Iraq, Al Quaeda, and Kuwait.

Firstly, let's define the role of the President of the United States.

The oath of office says: "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

Part of the "office of the President" is as Commander In Chief of the Armed Forces of the United States, which is a *military* position, not a civilian position. It means he is the Big Dog, the Supreme Commander of all of our armed forces.

Another part of the "office of the President" is as Executive in Charge of the civilian side of the administration of government, running the nuts and bolts, collecting the revenue from taxes, formulating and conducting foreign and domestic policy, enforcing federal law, regulating interstate commerce, and other Constitutionally mandated activities associated with the office.

A third part of the "office of the President" is to appoint members of the federal judiciary, with the "advice and consent" of the Senate. What a bag of worms that's turned into!

All of the above was formulated just to make it clear in my own head as to what the duties of the President are. In concept it's all pretty simple. In practice, it gets horribly complicated.

Now, let's look at Iran/Kuwait/Iraq/Afghanistan.

In the early 1980's, Saddam committed Iraq to conquest. Iraq attacked Iran, with the intent of seizing oil fields in Iran for Iraq's own use and benefit. During this war, Saddam did, personally, direct the use of Weapons of Mass Destruction against the Iranians, mostly chemical weapons, and maybe some bio-weapons as well. This establishes intent and capability to use WMDs against military targets.

In the mid 1980's, Saddam was having trouble with the Kurdish minority in the North of Iraq. He personally directed that chemical WMDs be used against at least one town, resulting in the deaths of more than 100 civilian men, women and children. This established intent and capability to use WMDs against civilian, non-combatant populations.

In 1989, Iraq invaded Kuwait, with the intent of making Kuwait another province of Iraq. And, of course, to grab the oil. Saddam didn't think anyone would do anything about it. Of course, we did boot his butt back into Iraq, and destroyed most of his Army and Air Force. During the course of this war, Saddam personally directed the use of explosive rockets against the states of Israel and Saudi Arabia. This establishes intent and capability to use rocketry against military and civilian targets, including civilian targets against a country that is not engaged in a war with him.

Why did we come to the aid of Kuwait?

Because of the oil? Surely. And not just the oil in Kuwait. Right next door to Kuwait is Saudi Arabia, which also has a lot of oil. That makes both countries strategically and economicly important to the United States.

After we halted in place, before taking Baghdad (a big mistake, in my opinion), we accepted a peace deal whereby the United Nations would supervise the destruction of all Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD). We further established areas in the North and South of Iraq where Saddam could not operate in his usual thuggish fashion. He did manage, however, to mount a campaign of terror and mass murder against the Shia in the South of Iraq, after they rebelled at our urging.

Let's be blunt about it here: The invasion of Kuwait was armed robbery writ large. And Saddam was behaving just as an ordinary street thug will - "You have it, I want it, give it to me sucker, or I'll blow your head off."

After the First Gulf War, as part of the peace settlement, Saddam agreed to strict inspections, to verify the dismantlement of Iraq's nuclear program, and the verified destruction of all stocks of chemical and biological weapons.

Almost from the beginning, obstruction and denial of access to the UN inspectors was Saddam's mode of operation. In direct violation of UN Resolutions that Iraq had formally agreed to, access to nuclear facilities was denied, access to verification of the destruction of chemical and biological weapons was obstructed or denied. Instances of Iraqi officials bailing out the back door with documents as the UN inspectors came in the front door is well documented by the UN staff.

Later, during the mid 1990's, he tossed the UN inspectors completely out.

In other words, Saddam wanted the world to think he still had this stuff. By his actions and public statements, from 1993 right up to early 2003, he succeeded.

Diversion of the "Oil for food" funds to military use was well documented as early as 1994, and certainly not later than 1998.

On the terrorist front, Saddam provided safe haven for the architect of the Achille Lauro high-jacking, from 1985 on. Also, the fuselage of at least one Boeing 737 aircraft was stashed in the desert, and used for the training of Hamas, PFLP, and Al-Quaeda personnel. Both of these items have been documented by satellite photography, intercepted phone and data transmissions, and, after the invasion, by interviews with Iraqis and also by captured Iraqi documents.

So, based on his record dating from the early 1980s, and based on his public statements and his own documents, Saddam Hussein's Iraq was definitely in "materiel breach" of many UN resolutions, and agreements made with the UN. Further, based on his support of terrorist organizations, and his record of invasion, Saddam's Iraq was a "clear and present danger" to it's immediate neighbors Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, to the US ally Israel, and to the United States, based on his support and training of Al-Quaeda personnel.

In short, the invasion of Iraq by the United States and the United Kingdom was clearly justified, and justifiable.

Thoughts? Rebuttals?