...my daughter used to comment on almost every unlikely occurrence with a standard two-word response:"its possible."

"Well, your bed isn't going to make itself."
"Its possible!"

"You won't do well on your test if you don't study."
"Its possible!"

"We'll never make it on time if we don't leave now."
"Its possible!"

"No, I don't think aliens took the last piece of cake."
"Its possible!"

I sometimes suspect that she had a job moonlighting in Feith's Office of Special Plans, since those who made the argument for a major and imminent national security posed by Saddam's unlikely connection to al-Qa'ida, his unlikely nuclear programme, and the unlikely use of whatever residual CW stockpiles we thought he might have in a really scary way did much the same. It relied heavily on cherry-picked intelligence, a series of worst case assumptions about unknowns, and improbable assessments of motives, calculations, and intentions. And it was all backed by a crusading zeal about the improbably domino effects of a fantasy democratization that discouraged any rational assessment of costs and benefits.

In short, I'm entirely with Steve on this one.