at the same time I'm scared to think what Saddam can do

Let me tell you a story:

I was on vacation in Spain on 9/11. The first I knew about the WTC attacks was when I was sitting outside a bar, enjoying some tapas. I overheard some nearby English tourists saying something to the effect of "Holy f***ing s**t, I just saw the WTC collapse".

So, I wandered down the street to a bar with a TV, and tried to figure out what the Spanish news was saying.

A confession: My first thought was "Oh sh*t, GWB is President of the US, now what kind of stupid thing is he going to go and do?"

My second thought was about the loss of life. In those early stages, it still seemed totally unreal -- I couldn't get my head around it.

My third thought was to phone a friend of mine to see if he'd heard from a mutual friend of ours who works near the WTC, and often goes there to visit clients. Thankfully, he and his wife were fine.

What I did find encouraging was the way that the British, American, Australian and Canadian tourists (other than the Japanese, are there any others?) kinda bonded in those few days. The expat pubs were heaving with people trying to catch the (English-language) news, and to try to get a handle on what was going on.

I was encouraged when Bush went into Afghanistan because it seemed like a measured (for him) response to the issue. Turns out I was wrong.

I think that the correct response to Saddam is simply to ignore him. He'll die of natural causes eventually.