Don C.

Is one man - Saddam - worth $100 Billion, more than 1,000 dead Americans and 24,000 wounded?

As DJ says, you are comparing another war and another time. Your use of the term "approval", which is what Republicans say, is misleading. Only a subservient entity seeks "approval". And, I don't think you or anyone else believes the US is subservient to the UN.

Bush Sr (former UN Ambassador and CIA Director) was a global leader. He didn't seek "approval" from the UN. He was able to lead the world. The US beared little of the cost in terms of money and american lives in 1991. (Saudis paid for a lot).

Reagan was a global leader who defeated the Soviet Union without a war. That's leadership and power when you can defeat your enemies with minimal costs to yourself.

So the issue here is, did Bush need to do what he did? There is plenty of evidence that Bush really wanted to start a war with Iraq from day 1, before 9/11. This has been written by Bush's own people (O'Neal and others). See this:
http://www.newamericancentury.org/iraqclintonletter.htm



Jan 26, 1998

Exerpts of OPEN LETTER To BILL CLINTON:

"We urge you to seize that opportunity, and to enunciate a new strategy that would secure the interests of the U.S. and our friends and allies around the world. That strategy should aim, above all, at the removal of Saddam Hussein’s regime from power."

Rumsfeld, Woflowitz, Armitrage and others