Well the article is supposed to be full of holes and nonsense but nobody has said why.

The Saudis are spending American bucks but if the buck goes south and the Euro comes in do you think they will stay with American currency? They'll trade whatever they can however. Maybe the buck will stick and maybe it won't. That remains to be seen but there is good reason to suspect that there are forces in the Administration that view this as a problem.

I read the Cato article and it's about the fear that rogue nations will develop scud missles with nuclear warheads and that's the reason Bush Administration attacked Iraq. This doesn't make sense to me. Military hardware is not enough of an issue because surely the Administration is smart enough to realize that if it attacks another country, nuclear arms will proliferate.
It's happening now.

Saving money on not developing a missile defense shield is a red herring too. They will develop it if they can because defense contracts will be offered in perpetuity.

Bush's religious piety may have some bearing on defending his position but Halliburton is waiting in the wings and the Bush Administration is not going to allow contracts to be handed out to European competitors. If you believe they will, I'd like to sell you a bridge.

Don, I think that the preoccupation with the Book of Revelations on the part of the Bush Admin. is true to a point. They are not looking for the "last times" however. They are looking to turn a profit and feed on the prejudices of the fundamentalists. Reagan was very pragmatic in dealing with those folks. He alienated many once in office. He however did see the value of arms sales to Iraq. This is probably where they got their biological weaponry.

It's a definite political move to bring the fundamentalists on board. How much real conviction is really in back of this is questionable however. Do you really think Bush is planning for the "final days"? Is he going to bring about the prophecy in the Book of Revelations? I don't think so.

In the meantime, Chavez is being replaced in Venezuela by an American backed junta and Algeria is being courted by Bush bucks in the UN. Afghanistan has been turned over to thugs, warlords who have no interest in democracy.

It's so interesting, though, how these erst-while Christians can turn their backs on the Sermon on the Mount.

Frank Hamilton