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Like Angus Cameron, I don't have any answers either. I'm not sure that one can take an absolutist stance and suggest that the use of force is always and everywhere wrong. What bothers me is the hypocrisy surrounding the singling out of one particular regime and according it pariah status. There are other regimes equally depicable but they are exempted from US action because they are in some way or other 'on-side'. It seems very difficult to construct a credible policy based on glaring inconsistencies. In the present crisis it seems that diplomatic solutions may well be attainable but there appears to be no great desire on the part of the US (or Britain) to pursue them - just as in 1991. Speaking of which, the terrible destruction visited upon Iraq's citizens (not Saddam Hussein) at that time resolved nothing - especially not for many Iraqis. In the longer term, the potential for a backlash against the 'west' is enormous. Many people within the region might be forgiven for perceiving western countries (or at least Britain and the US) as being first world imperialist 'bullies' pushing a poor country around, thus leading to an enhancement rather than a diminution of support for Saddam. As to what a 'critical' attitude should be - refusal to accept the simplistic rhetoric emanating from Clinton, Allbright, Blair, Cook et al. may be better than nothing - to which one might respond by saying that is all very easy to do from the relative comfort and safety of academia. It is. Dave Dr. David Storey Geography Department & Centre for Rural Research Worcester College of Higher Education Henwick Grove Worcester WR2 6AJ England Tel: 01905 855189 Fax: 01905 855132 %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%