DaveR: "It is not absurd costic.It is working.Libya has caved in...

DaveR: "It is not absurd costic.
It is working.
Libya has caved in and Iran and Syria are crapping themselves."

That story about Libya is a myth. Libya has been bending over backwards to accommodate the West in recent years. It's offer to give up its WMD programmes has actually been on the table for years - since the late 'nineties.

It just happened that after the Iraq war it suddenly became good PR for Bush and Blair to pick up this old offer and hype it as though it were something new - a result of their "tough on terror" strategy. It was no such thing. Just another fib to add to all the others.

As for Iran, far from "crapping itself" it has swung noticeably to the right since the Iraq invasion took place, with hundreds of moderate candidates being barred from even standing in the elections. Iran also appears to be continuing its program of nuclear weapon development.

Now I don't have a crystal ball and I can't foretell the future but I hardly think at this stage the Iraq intervention could be called a success. Terrorism is on the increase everywhere and we are clearly no safer.
The war on terror has made bin Laden and Al Qaeda heroes amongst the world's disaffected Muslims, and I'm afraid the intervention is ultimately only going to demonstrate Western impotence in the face of such attacks rather than strength, which is hardly a good message to be sending to one's potential enemies.