Geez, Cluin — do I detect a note or sarcasm in you post.....????

I'm shocked! Who would have thought that being a dithering moron would be a quality you would look for in a world leader faced with a crisis that could literally determine the future of mankind?

How about we engage in alternative solutions? Why don't we just ignore the Middle East and let the ancient animosities run their course? That would probably result in either A) a total disruption of oil/gas supplies to all of Europe and part of the U.S. as the Saudis/Iranians/Iraqis/Kuwaitis/Jordanians/Egyptians/etc. fight among themselves /or B) some combination out of those states wipes out Israel and two or three other states in their quest for regional hegemony?

There are things you can fault Dubya & Co. for — like why haven't they gone after Saudi Arabia, Syria, Libya, and Pakistan instead of just Afghanistan and Iraq? — but I think there might be something to say for limiting the fight to one or two theaters at a time, rather than taking on the whole region and fuelng the perception that it is an attack on all Islamic countries. The stupid already believe that — don't reinforce the notion in the slightly more sophisticated and just compound the problem.

cheers,

david