Heck yeah it could have been avoided and we didn't even need any promises from Hussein. Iraq was no imanent threat.
I saw this guy on CNN this morning. He sure seemed credible. His interviewer surely did want Mre Hage to say that he (the Lebanese gentleman) believed the Iraqi offer was genuine. Mr. Hage essentially said that he wasn't in a position to know whether it was a credible offer.
But I'm betting it was a sincere, credible offer. Hussein finally woke-up and realized that after 12 years of f***ing around, we weren't playing anymore and were poised to depose the mad bas**rd. So he offers the farm. Too bad he didn't do that in say, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002.
Hope the rest of those dictators and kings and sultans, take careful notes.
Botnst