On the Iraq issue, I'm not pro-war or anti-war at the moment. Therefore I think it is important for the proponents of both sides to have a proposed solution when drumming up for support.

Personally, I think that the pro-war position has a case. The removal of Saddam Hussein is the o­nly way to achieve peace, stability and prosperity and Saddam will not go peacefully.

The following is what I think is at stake:

1. Welfare of the Iraqi people, present and future.
2. The stability of the region, present and future.
3. The economy of the world, present and future.
4. US-Middle-East relationship, present and the future.

And the following is my 30-second reasoning o­n the issue:

With the anti-war effort stopping the war without the removal of Saddam, they will o­nly prolong the suffering of the Iraqi people.

The o­nly way of removing the suffering of the Iraqi people is to lift the current sanction, which I think is impossible because of Saddam and the ambitions he has displayed by his invasion of Kuwait. Therefore we always need some kind of sanction and weapons monitoring imposed o­n Iraq as long as Saddam and the likes of him stay in power.

This leads to the question of sustainability and applicability, which I think will fail in the end especially when we are in the open and whatever Saddam is planning is hidden. So with Saddam in power we are also postponing the inevitable - eventual military intervention; the o­nly difference might be that Saddam will have the nuclear/chemical/biological weapon developed in secret.

Now imagine Saddam marching into Kuwait with o­ne nuclear missile. He does not need a lot of nuclear missiles. As long as Saddam shows the will to use o­ne he has the upperhand. In any case, he will be tougher to deal with.

Another possibility is that Saddam eventually dies and the Iraqis may still be ruled by o­ne of Saddam's sons and the suffering continues.

Consider also civil war, which is usually the case when a powerful dictator dies. No need to say that the region will remain unstable for quite a while and the question of oil supply will always be hanging o­n the proverbial neck of the world economy and the development of the any country.

As far as the US-Mideast relationship is concerned, I think it cannot turn around unless the US can deal with Israel and Palestine evenhandedly. However, US can improve itself by working for Mideast support o­n the war and make good of its promises after the war, i.e. rebuilding Iraq.

Finally, I'm still waiting to be convinced by the anti-war supporters. At least there should be a proposed solution to the Iraqi or, more precisely, the Saddam problem.