] Some world leaders and strategists have proposed five
] options for dealing with what they claim is a clear and
] present danger to their vital national interest in the
] Persian Gulf.

This is a review of the book "The Threatening Storm: The Case for Invading Iraq", by Kenneth Pollack, an Iraq specialist.

The options for dealing with Iraq basically boil down to:

(1) Containment
(2) Deterrence
(3) Covert Action
(4) The "Afghan" approach (encouraging local groups to take over)
(5) Invasion

When I'm talking to people offline about the Iraq situation, I often hear the anti-war folks say things like, "Well, war is just bad." "We shouldn't attack." "Innocent people will die." "Saddam might attack other countries if we do anything." "If we attack Iraq, then terrorists might set off attacks here in the U.S." To which I respond, "Okay, you say that invasion is a bad idea, I hear you. But, what *should* we do? Is Saddam an innocent peace-loving individual here? If we don't attack or find some other way of getting rid of Saddam, will the problem go away?" And more often than not, I'm greeted with a blank look or a confused expression. In other words, many people seem to be jumping on the anti-war bandwagon for no other reason than because of a gut feeling that "war is bad," but they're not thinking about the potentially even more serious consequences of inaction.

This book "The Threatening Storm", does an excellent job, IMHO, of carefully discussing each of the 5 options, pro and con. It's got a ton of hard data and analysis about the Iraq situation, and I recommend it highly.