Torone,
I agree the decision was ultimately made to go to war (which I supported ) based on, exactly as you said, Saddam's words and actions. His behavior has been a thorn in the side of the past four administrations.
If US intelligence was wrong, then the question I think we have to ask is how we can improve it? It was said all along there was no "smoking gun" but rather that the weight of evidence was overwhelming in it's totality. That all the small bits of evidence summed to strong evidence. "There is no smoking gun".
I think Saddam's actions and continual disregard for world political norms caused the evidence that existed to be viewed in that light by many.
If the lesson that must be learned it will be a difficult one. How should the world react to Saddam Hussein's when they appear?
When there is no "smoking gun" you might be wrong in your conclusions and that might be what happened. Maybe not though. It's early and much information is still to be learned.
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