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As far as the question "Why did they leave Saddam in power?", I would argue that Saddam is useful to the US. Removing him would have created a power vacuum and increased instability, possibly even the break-up of Iraq into three states, with disastrous effects on the balance of power in the region. A weakened Iraq however is desirable, particularly from the point of view of the very influential Jewish lobby in the US. After all, Iraq posed a significant threat to the state of Israel. Iraq is a secular nation of around 17 million, with a highly educated middle-class, two rivers providing fertile soils, and relatively undeveloped oil reserves to rival those of Saudi Arabia. These are all factors that could have lead to a surplus of power in US eyes after Iraq's victory against Iraq in the eight-year war. Furthermore, the 1990 conflict gave the US an excuse for a physical military presence in the Gulf as never before, as well as influence over the Gulf states (who caused a global economic crisis in the form of the oil shock in '72 - something the US never wants to face again) and billions of dollars in arms deals with Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. All this is in addition to the fact that US foreign policy is usually that of a gun-weilding cowboy, with very little finesse and excessive dependence on popularity ratings at home. A "public enemy no. 1" figure is useful in this respect and provides a good excuse and testing ground for the multi-billion dollar arms industry. The irony is that they created him in the first place! -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a discussion list run by Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq. To be removed/added, email soc-casi-discuss-request@lists.cam.ac.uk, NOT the whole list. Archived at http://linux.clare.cam.ac.uk/~saw27/casi/discuss.html