Another excellent column from Steve Chapman on Hussein’s purported madness. Chapman goes back and shows how what now seem like irrational moves (war with Iran, invading Kuwait) at the time seemed necessary for survival and not at all crazy. Further, when his survival was very much in doubt during the Gulf War, Hussein still refrained from using the weapons of mass destruction he possessed at the time.

Why would it be different this time around? More generally, how un-crazy does a person have to be to realize that going nuclear with the United States is a very, very bad idea? A bare grasp on reality seems to be the only requirement.