> I'm sorry but is not the argument that the troops were a deterrent to
> Hussein, and therefore necessary until he was removed.
Those troops could not have stopped him (especially because they weren't stationed in the Eastern Province, the only thing worth taking). And they weren't needed as a tripwire. So how could they be a deterrent?
If there was one thing Gulf War I made clear, it was that any crossing of Iraq's borders would be met by Gulf War II. Now there was credible deterrent.
So the only purpose such troops could ever have served was a component part of such a Gulf War II. Which due to their political effects it was clear after the Kenya embassy bombings they couldn't. And they didn't.
Michael