need help w/LTTE response-other maniacal dictators?!?

I'm responding to a letter to the editor in which the writer says going to war in Iraq was justified because Saddam Hussein tortured and executed people. I want to list other countries with CURRENT maniacal dictators that we ought to invade based on that logic. As many as possible. Please help!

http://www.inq7.net/opi/2003/feb/23/opi_commentary1-1.htm

are all these people still in power? obviously some are, but what about Burma, Eq. Guinea, etc? Anyone know?

Well, there's not much Activity in this Activism forum. Hopefully it's because you're all out Acting on an issue!

Anyway, here's the LTTE I'm responding to, then my response, which I'll email later today. Comments/criticism would be most welcome. This is important to me because of the tone of this woman's letter.

___
There was just cause for war

Thursday July 24, 2003


The letter from Christian Walker ("He did lie," Your Opinions, July 23) opened with
this sentence: "It truly amazes me the extent to which right-wingers will go in order to
defend President Bush."

That sentence in itself is amazing. Please understand that it is not "false pride" to
support and defend our president, our country and our troops. It is a true and deep
pride.

Our government has not sent 150,000 American troops into
Iraq for "dubious reasons." The reasons are clear and compelling.
For argument's sake, let us say that there are no weapons of mass
destruction to be found.

Does it ever occur to anyone that Saddam Hussein himself was a
human form of mass destruction? Ask Iraqi people who have sought
refuge in this country if their people were not tortured and
executed under this regime. Ask them about babies and children
who had their tongues cut out in front of their parents.

Just talk, you say. I think not. Do your homework. Yes, American lives
have been lost, and the grief is unbearable. But the cause of the greater good should
always prevail. I will ride behind that "cowboy" with the knowledge that this country
has sacrificed American lives for a cause that goes far beyond the discovery of
aluminum tubes.

_____
In response to the letter "There was just cause for war":

Your statements about Saddam Hussein being a horrendous individual are certainly true. No one would say that is "Just
talk."

But it is not the main reason we invaded Iraq. Read the State of the Union address; read the Congressional Resolution;
review what the Bush administration was saying leading up to the war. The grounds for invading Iraq were that Saddam Hussein
was hiding weapons of mass destruction and was pursuing a nuclear weapons program that was a clear and present danger to
the United States.

On your grounds for going to war, who are we going to invade next: North Korea? Saudi Arabia? Zimbabwe? Myanmar?
Libya? Turkmenistan? Belarus? Cuba? Do you think we have enough soldiers to topple all the evil dictators? What about
our unfinished business in Afghanistan? And what about Liberia?

These are very serious issues that must be debated, not ignored.