Rob,
"There are lots of people that the world would be a better place without. Does that mean I can wander around shooting them?"
Yes, when the circumstance warrants. Both saddam and Hitler warranted it.
"Moreover, I don't see the USA moving in to take out Mugabe. "
So, if we were starting wars with countries all over the world, then that would be OK with you? In fact you demand that we become involved with strife in all countries with a problem. Isn't that what you are asking for in your quote?
You're quite a literalist. Sorry - I should have been more clear.
As to the first line you quoted, I would think that it's obvious that I shouldn't be able to go around shooting people that I've decided should be killed. That's a pretty clear premise in the Canadian legal system, and while I'm no expert, I think the U.S. legal system is similar.
The point being, this was an illegal war and can't be justified, in the same way that I can't justify shooting people who post crap on internet fora.
The USA arbitrarily decided to invade Iraq to "get" Saddam:
Tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of people have died as a result.
Hundreds of billions of dollars have been wasted.
No WMDs were found in Iraq. (incidentally, I'm not buying into your attempt to characterize HE munitions as WMD. The world was given the impression that Saddam had one of chemical, nuclear, or biological weapons at the ready. None of these were found.)
Al-Qaida never had bases there.
After these four points became common knowledge, the rationale for the war retroactively became "ridding the world of Saddam". My Mugabe comment was intended to point out the fallacy of the rid-the-world-of-Saddam argument - the US turns a blind eye to (or indeed, installs) other brutal dictators all the time. This suggests that Saddam was targeted, not because he had WMDs (none found), not because he was supporting al-Qaida, and not because he was an evil dictator. So what was the reason? It appears to have been oil, a lingering grudge from the last gulf war, or the megalomania of the PNAC folks that Bush had surrounded himself with.
"Incidentally, if Bush had acted appropriately, you wouldn't be in this war today, either."
OK, here's your chance, what should President Bush have done differently. Please do not use the tired old "give more time for the sanctions to work" reply. Anyone with half a brain knows that the sanctions were not working because the countries who objected to military action were also the countries who were trading with Iraq even though it was illegal (that would be Russia, France and Germany).
What Bush should have done is kept his eye on the ball and continued to pursue al-Qaida and the Taliban (in Afghanistan) instead of pouring troops into Iraq. There were no terrorist training camps in Iraq! Invading Iraq in 2003 after 9/11 makes as much sense as invading Peru after Pearl Harbour would have.
And, I'm really, really interested in your opinions on Iran. Hope to hear form you soon!
Here's my views on Iran:
Let's put ourselves into Iran's shoes.
In 1953, the US and Britain orchestrate the overthrow of your government and replace it with one more amenable to western oil interests.
In 1979, you finally overthrow the Shah (who was an evil dictator much like Saddam). In response, the US freezes Iranian assets and holds them to this day, despite promises to release them.
Fast forward a few more years. Bush calls Iraq, Iran, and North Korea the axis of evil. Bush proceeds to invade Iraq, and Afghanistan, putting US-led forces on either side of Iran.
Now, wouldn't you feel a little threatened by this? Iraq has no WMDs and gets invaded. N. Korea gets the bomb, and a fresh round of diplomacy.
Now, what the hell do you expect Iran to do, when faced with circumstances like these? Anyone who can read newspapers and history books can see that they're being set up for another one of Bush's "regime changes". Nuclear weapons are a pretty good way to deter that.
As for making comments about Israel ceasing to exist... come on. Reagan promised to "begin bombing (Russia) in 5 minutes" - how is this different? And Israel can take care of itself.