Well put BillLiptak. There's a lot to be said for your view. But it isn't the stated view of the US and UK government which claim to be acting to support the UN and does not expected to be treated as a special case.
I'd have to disagree with you on Bush's belief in WMDs. If the French Russian and German governments and 2 million protestors in Europe didn't believe they existd. How could Dubya? An enquiry in the UK said our intelligence services said their knowledge of Iraq was 'sketchy and unreliable'. Blair then went into parliament and said our facts on Iraqs' WMDs are 'wide ranging, detailed and authoritative'.
And the inspectors went to the first 40 sites on the CIA list that America claimed was the most certain to have WMDs. And found nothing. But you didn't re-examine your conclusions.
I'm not bashing America or even as I've made plain Dubya in particular. I'm just trying to make the point that when WE (note I included the UK) decide there should be different rules for us and other ones for everyone else. We can't expect them to listen to us.
Even Mrs Clinton is saying the US should be the ones to guard pakistans nukes and have the right to bomb terrorist bases there. Would you accept a foreign government claiming they should have this right for the US? This is a blessing to Bin Laden. He can say 'look everything I've been telling you is true; the west does intend to attack muslim countries'.
The Sock