Originally Posted by Zodiak

There was no diplomacy in the run-up to the Iraq war. There was arm-twisting, posturing, feigned attempts at obeying international law, and a secret war engaged months before the official invasion date began. That was not diplomacy; that was bullying.

If the diplomacy argument is based on the "12 years" that is oft mentioned by Bush supporters, then I would say that as far as Iraq was concerned, diplomacy was working (a heck of a lot better than today's conditions, at least). Saddam was effectively contained within his own borders. I would argue that this method was only partially successful, though, because a half of a million children died in Iraq under a lengthy half a generation of economic sanctions. These sanctions went on too long and were not tweaked when problems arose. Of course, imposing illegal no-fly zones on the country and bombing every time someone walked across the desert with a gun didn't help matters very much.

Originally Posted by Christine Stewart, Former Minister of the Environment of Canada

"No matter if the science is all phony, there are collateral environmental benefits.... Climate change [provides] the greatest chance to bring about justice and equality in the world."