they have not attacked us or anyone else since the gulf war, and don't even bring up shooting at US warplanes invading their airspace. that is self defense and harmless too, as we have seen. attacking a sovereign nation without provocation is not self defense. that is like shooting your neighbor because he is mad at you about your barking dog and he owns a gun. it's not self defense until he actually threatens you with that gun. actually, it's more like going over to his house when he's having a party and killing a few of his guests to get to him, just in case he comes by to shoot you tomorrow with that scary gun.
bush is too much of a coward to try to settle things like a human, by brains instead of brawn.