[backtothestreets]

But if Chavez or any other dictator/communist/terrorist thinks that they can operate with impunity and not face the military might of our nation, they are drastically wrong.

Fives years since the 9-11 attacks present a different picture. You mentioned North Korea and Iran, but not the nation of the "hero" that advanced both their missile and nuclear technology, Pakistan. General Musharraf pardoned the Pakistani that did this and declared him a hero. In a complete contradiction to the expressed policy of establishing a democracy in the region, General Mausharraf came to power by overthrowing the decractraticlly elected government of Pakistan.

General Mausharraf was a strong supporter of the Taliban in Afghanistan, and Pakistan has been their place of refuge since being driven from Afghanistan. Before and since 9-11 Pakistan has been host to the most Al Qaeda schools and training camps. Up to 60,000 have been trained since 9-11. Many have been deployed to Iraq to attack and kill members of our military. In the same period of time the government of Pakistan has arrested about 450 suspected terrorists, which is less than 1% of the number Pakistan has produced.

In the week and a half since the Pakistani government signed a peace accord with the tribal Pakistani regions protecting Osama bin Laden and his murderous organization, the number of Al Qaeda fighters entering Afghanistan from Pakistan to fight our troops has increased ten fold. They are joined there by Al Qaeda terrorists that visited Iraq to learn the latest bomb making techniques and are now teaching others how to kill our military members and Afghanistan's civilians.

Our military is powerless to respond because Pakistan is declared an ally in the war. Pakistan refuses to allow our military on their soil to seek out and destroy our enemy. The real question is, who is Pakistan really allied with, and who is at the hub of the axis of evil? For now one dictator of a nation has impunity from our military because our politicians have granted that impunity. It's an impunity that is killing our own troops!

[LegendHasIt]

We could do the job with HALF the current Combat Troops if the politicians, the media and the clueless handwringers would just get out of the way.

[UnbelievingScumOnTheOtherSide]

The reason we deal with Pakistan the way we do is because their nuclear arsenal is balanced on the head of a pin. Kick that pinhead out or otherwise let it be tipped and we'll have to drop everthing else we're doing and keep it from disappearing into a black hole. Musharraf is the only one with a vested interest in keeping control of it, however he double-deals with everyone and everything else. I suspect we have a complicated deal going: we don't kill him, we don't make him do anything to make Al-Qaeda kill him, we give Al-Qaeda and political rivals enough reason to keep him alive by letting them know we won't invade as long as Musharraf is in control and we get kept apprised of where the weapons are in case all else fails.