Doug - I know why you want to eliminate Bin Laden, Doug, but it was more your govermental authorities I had in mind...at the top level. I think they may have some longer range objectives in mind. I may be wrong. We'll see as time goes by. I don't think superpowers go to war by happenstance. The war with Japan was definitely and invevitably coming long before Pearl Harbour, and I think the same is true of this war in Afghanistan, and other conflicts coming up in the Middle East.

These are local skirmishes in the establishment of the Pax Americana, post-1989...similar to Britain's performance worldwide following the defeat of Napoleon. The USA is consolidating its economic and cultural empire, and eliminating pockets of resistance along the way in various parts of the world. I do not think that anyone in the US administration anticipated the destruction of the WTC, but I'm sure they expected some lesser type of terrorist event to occur at some point, and they were prepared to make certain moves when and if it did.

The collapse of the Soviet Union created a huge power vacuum in the world, and we are seeing the after-effects all over the place now. Rather than a peace dividend, we have inherited an extremely unstable and volatile situation which is likely to last for some time yet.

The only other country capable of reaching superpower status at this point, I would think, is China...but not quite yet. They are biding their time, while they modernize themselves. The Chinese are known for their patience and their long range outlook.

Until China asserts herself, however, America has basically got a free hand to junket around the world pulverizing poorly armed opponents in 3rd World nations, just as the British did a century or two ago, wiping out Africans and Asians with fast-firing rifles against spears, swords, and old flintlocks.

Occasionally there's a screw-up. The British lost a column of redcoats to the Zulus at Isandlwana, and the USA lost the WTC to suicide pilots. The end result was similar in both cases...the British massacred the Zulus not too long after Isandlwana, and the USA is now massacring the Afghans.

I do not, by the way, sympathize with the Taliban (never have), but they are just bit players in a worldwide drama that will soon forget them as it moves on to other stages.

- LH