ON THE STREET

With Saddam Hussein "backing down" and allowing weapons inspections in Iraq to resume, the Southeast Missourian asked people what they thought of the continuing military deployment to Iraq by the United States.

Chris Robertson: "I don't think we should pull out completely. We need to be sure we have international support. This doesn't need to be the United States versus Iraq. It's just going to get ugly."

Gyorgyi Tauber: "I think it's safer to keep our military over there for a while, because we cannot predict what Saddam is going to do. If the United Nations thinks the inspections are satisfactory, maybe we can pull the military out in a couple of years."

Greg Grimme: "We should increase our forces in the area of Iraq and keep people there on a rotating basis, rather than to keep going over and coming back. The presence of the military worldwide is a deterrence for terrorism and to games played by people like Saddam Hussein."

Innocent Egbuchiri: "It is costing a lot of money to do this, because the United States is taking it personally. Saddam Hussein is riding the United States around. If the weapons inspectors can do their job, I think we should not leave the military over there."

Matt Potts: "I think we should continue with the military there, because if Saddam has changed his mind before, he could do it again. We need to let him know we are serious and not playing games. We should consider making the military presence more permanent."