The Iraqi embargoes were failing, so it had to come to a head in the next few years. I don't know why it had to be done so suddenly. I think it has been handled exceedingly poorly, but I think it is important to look at what we should do now. We can choose not to go to war with Iraq, but only if we are willing to accept those consequences as well:

1. A blow will be struck for peaceful resolution in world affairs, changing U.S. and world politics for ever.
2. The Bush and Blair administrations will be impotent and voted out of office next election.
3. The United States will forfeit much of its power as a world leader by showing that it does not have the conviction to follow through on its CLEARLY stated course of action. This is true regardless of how fallacious you may believe that conviction to be.
4. France and Germany will be considered two of the new great powers.
5. The U.N. will be saved, but by refusing to deal with the Iraq issue, it will be largely impotent. It is also likely to go bankrupt if the United States quits funding it, unless the rest of the world ponies up the cash.
6. The Arabs will still hate us just as much for threatening war as if we had actually followed through, possibly more so because we had shown weakness
7. The United States will still be seen as unilateralist.
8. All nonproliferation regimes will be rendered totally impotent. Already, North Korea and Iran have restarted their nuclear programs.
9. No country in the world will be able to interfere in genocides or unprovoked invasions without the threat of WMD.
10. There will be a renewed period of world conflict with little anybody can do.

The world would keep on spinning if we don't go to war. Some nations may be willing to live with these consequences. Taking the whole picture into consideration, even doubting some of the justifications, are you willing to deal with these very real consequences in exchange for the very real consequences of war?

-Biscuits