Dear Folks,

Oil and gas make the world run. I daresay everyone on this thread pays utility bills, and even the relatively few woodburners on this site own a car, truck or van. (How else would we get to the gigs?)

As for Saddam: He's a cancer on the face of the earth whose sole destiny appears to be justifying the existence of the 82nd Airborne.

In the immortal words of Doc Holiday, "Hell, Wyatt, SOMEBODY'S got to kill the sonsabitches."

I know all you European folks (with the possible exception of Tony Blair and his supporters) are apoplectic. But, face it, Europe doesn't count for much these days. Jeez, you guys still have Royalty and crap over there, de-clawed as they may be.

In the end, the U.S. will take the hits and turn the tide, and, as always, Euro-trash businessmen will ride our economy's backwash. They always do, so why would they find any semblance of moral courage at this late date?

And they sure as hell will keep on sucking up the cheap oil after this war on radical Islam (I refuse to use the phrase "War on Terror") is won.

And it will be won, of course, probably at little or no cost to an ineffectual Europe.

As for the fanatical jerks who blew up our skyscrapers (and who Saddam is certainly aiding), watch your frontline. As always the classic U.S. military maneuver is "Grab them by the balls and kick them in the ass."

We've used it since that little stir we had with England back in the 18th Century. Funny, but it always works.

And, yes, Saddam, your ass -- UN or no UN -- is ours.

Tony