Wow, I had no idea you guys were reading the political stuff. I think I screwed up the piece about '91. I confused two different things: the decision not to "go to Baghdad" (which was right) and the decision to let Saddam's boys use helicopters against the Kurds and Shiites (which was wrong). Schwarzkopf could have ruled out the copters under the cease-fire (without violating the pledge to the coalition), but he didn't, because he was dumb. I absolutely stand by the piece about crying wolf. The US and UK are doing nearly everything they can to spare civilians, and Saddam's paramilitaries are trying to make that impossible. It's a hostage situation.