Good point TL - the response ranges. Tariffs and subsidies at one end of the spectrum where economically the intransigents can be bought to heel. Blockades, embargoes, and the old fashioned "send in the troops" for people and countries that really piss them off.
Like the pirate code, the Geneva Convention is more a set of guidelines really - unless that is the captives are marines. In that case the Geneva Convention better be followed to the letter of the law or there will be hell to pay.
Now despite everything, I am happy that Saddam is out on his ear. I can sift the arguments and I like that he is now a historical footnote. I don't like double standards over the geneva Convention. Either you are in or you are out. You don't get to chose where and when the circumstances most suit. And when it comes down to it I feel we were all bullied into a war through lying and the misrepresentation of a WOMD threat that was not there.
Paul O'Neill found out that it was "My way or the highway" and the UN and world in general got the same message over Iraq. Don't let any of the hawks in the administration hear you saying that the US is seen as a gentle giant, cos they will want to leap even further to the right if people start thinking they are a bunch of wimps
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