The Iraqi Elections Were An Important First

Since The Days Of Peter The Great, Russians Have Been Maybe Europeans Who Didn't Share In The Enlightenment And The Reformation, Or Are They Mongol Asians With The European Veneer. And They've Gone Back And Forth.

It Is Beyond Dispute That Saddam Hussein Is A Menace.

But Figuring Out Saddam Hussein Was One Our Greatest Mysteries. He Marched To His Own Drummer And Frequently As This Unfolded He Made Decisions Which Were Sometimes Inexplicable To Us And Sometimes Didn't Look Very Smart.

But There Is Scant Evidence To Tie Saddam To Terrorist Organizations, And Even Less To The Sept. 11 Attacks.

To Sum Up, The Position We Took Was That Since We Didn't Know The Internal Situation In Iraq Nor Saddam Hussein, That Our Best Bet Was To Take Counsel From The People Who Did Know Him And Who Did Deal With Him.