Rattle wrote:

] Bush is going to go through with this one way or the other..
] I'm confident of that. I don't think anyone has any power to
] stop it at this point. The war machine is in motion. Lets
] just hope this dosen't start WW3 or put us in a worse position
] then we are right now. The administration wants to shrink the
] gap. Lets hope they are not being cocky, and that they can
] actually pull it off. All we can do is hope. Like it or not,
] we don't have control over this situation. All acts of
] protest have been completely ineffective, but thats another
] story...

I wouldn't worry about WW3. That's not likely. As we learned during the cold war, no one is stupid enough to risk total annihilation for any dogma. The Middle East has been unstable for, oh... 3000 years? Luckily it's pretty isolated geographically, so it would be difficult to migrate conflict out of the region. There are some countries who just don't give a shit (Japan).

Secondly, I think the protests have worked tremendously. They've stalled the whole thing. In fact, I think the reason why things are so tense at the White House isn't because we're getting ready to fight, it's because we were probably supposed to be fighting back in January. Consider:

o UN inspectors take longer than expected to find WMD. Iraq drags feet on opening certain sites.
o UN Security Council can't get their shit together. US doesn't expect France, Germany, and Russia to balk.
o Turkey tries to cash in. Forces plan B on deployment and tactics.
o Iraq starts playing shell games with diplomacy. Saddam wants debate. Saddam agrees to dismantle, then changes his mind. Saddam won't follow the ridiculously worded UN decree. Saddam says one thing, ambassadors say another.
o UN inspectors say that Iraq is 'trying' but still not sure about WMD.
o Congress starts balking. The tab looks like $100B. No one reaches for the check.

Meanwhile, the US economy, which was poised for a rebound, is stunted. Gas prices jumped the gun back in February. The bill to feed all those idle troops is starting to skyrocket. The UN Security Council is enjoying their day in the sun (you think France is loving the fact that they're making headlines on world affairs?). The weather is starting to get uncomfortable over there. Troops are getting bored and antsy. And the folks back home are questioning the reasoning behind all this crap.

What a MESS!

RE: ABCNEWS.com : Saddam Could Launch First Strike