Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2005 I'VE BEEN ASKED TO CLARIFY what I meant by the comment about people in Iraq needing a strong leader or they do terrible things to one another -- back in Marco Polo's day. Which is simply this: whatever the cause, Iraq apparently has a long history of violence. Given that all the reasons for ousting Saddam Hussein either a) turned out to be false or b) were obviated by the "coalition" coming along and committing its own atrocities in Iraq, killing tens of thousands, the Abu Gharib scandal and so on, we really need to be asking about the real motives beneath the excuses. But I am holding the faith that in the next few days we will know a lot more than we did before, because the Patrick Fitzgerald investigation seems to be focusing on what was said in the buildup to the attack and invasion, who said it, and why.