[xsysmgr]

The world should think about attacking the US in the same way I would think about throwing a punch at Mohammed Ali in his prime.

[formercalifornian]

Couldn't get beyond the second sentence before noticing one terrible thing. The second sentence starts with the word "Rather," and now I always see the "th" in that word superscripted. Even here. I have a feeling I will always read this word with superscripted letters! Now, back to the article.

[mike182d]

Actually, a part of me does agree with John Kerry's statement. Gulf War II shouldn't have happened.

Rather, we should have ousted Saddam after liberating Kuwait. A greater portion of the Iraqi population was willing to fight at the time (but when they tried, thinking the U.S. would help them, they got slaughtered by Saddam) and most of the world would not have been as opposed to the measure.

This Iraqi War looks bad only because it should have happened a decade ago.

[formercalifornian]

Okay. Now I've read the whole thing. A very good analysis of the situation. The best line is this:

I'm guessing the folks in Beslan can imagine that scenario.

Jerks any scoffers up to that point to reality. Al QAida were certainly involved there.

[GreyFriar]

bump

[brothers4thID]

Thank you for posting.

[familyop]

"Is it such a stretch to imagine Saddam, say, dispatching a dozen or so militant lowlifes to massacre schoolchildren in Wichita...and then forking over the still-warm bodies of their handlers as a show of support for the American victims?""

Remember that. It fits with the rules for their kind of warfare, as it will with some of their close but covert alliances.

[LiberalBassTurds]

Good article and good analogy. Add the concept of an "Iraqi firewall" between Iran, Syria, and Saudi Arabia and Bush's actions have been brilliant. History will show this to be true.

[Grampa Dave]

The results of round one with the New Kerry and his new Iraqi message are shown below:

[Huntingtonian]

It is false logic to claim that because Ossama Bin Ladin can't be deterred by the threat of annihilation, no can.

Saddam, even considering all of his pathologies, had never exhibited a tendency to choose a glorious death over the other alternatives. The historical record speaks for itself here. Retreat was always preferred to standing and fighting. Hiding in a hole was preferred to defiance and obliteration. He refrained from using chemical weapons against Israel in the first Gulf War, even though provoking Israeli retaliation was the surest way he could have broken up the UN Coalition, because he knew the Israeli response would be ferocious (read: nuclear).

Saddam was not a jihadist and was likely more deterrable than the current leader of North Korea. I sure hope US policy wasn't build on this crappy reasoning.