Galloway Denies Taking Oil-for-Food Cash

I have to admit it - I can't really follow this story, and can't opine on whether the British MP with the Palestinian wife got bribes from Saddam. But it does remind me why I originally supported the war. What I saw at the time was a crumbling blockade struggling to keep Hussein contained. France and others appeared to be skirting the rules. Humanitarians were wailing over the human suffering the embargo was causing, and the U.N. appeared too corrupt to hold fast. Since it seemed highly unlikely that the structures in place to contain the madman would succeed for very long, I felt it would be best to remove the bastard and get down to business with his successor. What I obviously did not know at the time was that

• No successor had emerged or been picked out from the existing Iraqi power base
• All institutions of authority would melt away with the invasion, particularly the army
• The Shia and Sunni communities were so thoroughly segregated and hostile
• Iraq had no WMD whatsoever and was not even close to developing an atomic bomb
• The administration intended on forming a democracy rather than a sane dictatorship
• Iraq is a highly tribal society where half of all marriages are between first cousins and that a civil society as we know it is nearly impossible

Most significantly, I did not know that we'd have spent $200-300 billion and counting two-and-a-half years after invading. Of course, as a mere citizen it is not my job to know all this, but it seems that the President didn't understand all this nor did anyone in Congress (or very few), so what their excuses are I haven't a clue. High profile war opponents didn't present any of these arguments but instead used classic left-wing anti-Western arguments or, like Chuck Hagel or Pat Buchanan, argued from a more traditional isolationist viewpoint which, after 9/11, didn't have a lot of resonance with most people (though they make an awful lot of sense today). But someone who absolutely did know all these things was Dick Cheney - and what he was thinking is one great mystery - Steve Sailer explores it but has no answers.
So what shoud we have done about Sadaam, given that the embargo appeared to be running out of steam? In retrospect, we should have held secret talks, offered him secret bribes coupled with very sober threats (maybe backed up with a few serious bombing raids if necessary) - basically played some old-school realpolitic to enlist him as an ally in the War on Terror and keep the oil flowing, instead of pretending he was sleeping with the enemy.