I have to wonder what Bush is really up to. We know that Iraq cannot verify the destruction of the WMD that they use to have. We know that Saddam Hussein sponsors terrorist attacks. We also know (at least until recently) the Saddam was acting more like this was a game than an action with any serious consequences.

I have a few trains of thought on this action.

1) The only way to win a war is by beating the population. If the population is tired of the fighting, the military will follow quickly. The Iraqi population does not want to be occupied. If we occupy, there will need to be soldies on every corner, and HMMWVs on every block. I can almost guarantee that those soldiers will be shot (at) daily. Occupying a hostile nation is not a fun thing to try to accomplish.

2) People seem to forget that we had over 750,000 people stationed as part of Desert Shield. Last numbers I heard were around 150,000. That 750,000 was just to beat them back. It was not to occupy the country. Our weapons are amazingly better than they were 12 years ago, but if we go MOUT (and Saddam would be a moron to try to stand in the sand like he did last time), most of those advantages are non-existant. I really hope that the cockiness because of our techological superiority doesn't put our soldier's lives in danger. The only times we've had problems is when we've underestimated the enemy.

It is possible that Bush is just using the deployment and tough words as a ploy to force Saddam to comply. If so, its already worked as seen by Saddam finally allowing U2 overflights, interviews with scientists, and the ban on WMD (that one cracks me up). That is a very expensive show of force, but our troops don't get as much training (at least our fliers) as they really should. This might just be a giant exercise, but I doubt it.

Something needs to be done. I am for military action as long as we get more soldiers, and more cooperation in the international arena. I don't think it is going to be pretty, but something needs to be done about him.

I feel that Iraq is more of a threat than North Korea is. North Korea only has a single, untested, missile. I can't say if North Korea has a nuclear warhead, but they have not shown a willingness to use it. Iraq has shown a willingness to use WMD on several occasions. They've used chemicals against Iran. They've used both chemical and biological against the Kurds. They've threatened use of WMDs against Israel (since that is the only country they can reach) if the USA interferes.

Sorry about the rambling, and probable incoherence. I just got done with like 14 hours of work (44 hours in the last 4 days or so) and my brain hurts.