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Nicely put. My guess is that you got the Saddam part of the coversation pretty close.

Saddam clearly thinks he has some very high cards, and I believe he does.

Care to venture a guess at what Bush is now saying to Saddam?

That's the million dollar question. You can bet it includes an explanation of what will happen to Iraq/Saddam if weapons of mass destruction are used against us.

It looks to me like President Bush thinks we are ready, and has decided to take the next step. Alternatively, he knows we are not ready, but believes waiting will only make it worse.

BTW: It looks to me like neither side will back down. If this is a game of chicken, my guess is that we are about to crash. We live in perilous times.

I think this has a long way to go yet. Bush's strategy is to totally isolate Saddam Hussein, both in the eyes of the world community and from his own people and military. This is an eminently attainable goal, given the hand Bush holds, and we are already seeing rapidly accelerating progress in that direction. If and when it becomes appropriate, as the nature of the standoff becomes explicit, Bush can also evacuate Baghdad with the flick of a wrist -- e.g. by the simple expedient of putting nuclear bombers over the city, 24x7. Bush can also start taking the country apart, in a reprise of the Afghan strategy, without directly threatening Saddam's survival and bringing things to the brink.

So, there are plenty of levers to pull. Unfortunately, there is no guarantee that this will be enough to get Saddam out without a catastrophe. If it isn't, we could be in for a very long stand-off, because Bush isn't going to gamble losing New York or Washington, DC by attacking Saddam directly, not IMHO.

This is a nightmare situation, no question about it. Thanks, Bubba.

BTW, if Act III does involve going public on the anthrax threat, I think Bush would be advised to have that nuclear bomber aleady stationed over Baghdad when he makes the announcement. But we are several notches below the appropriate psychological preparedness for that right now. We are getting there, incrementally. Every day, you can feel it getting closer.

Alternatively, he knows we are not ready, but believes waiting will only make it worse.

This is the key. Time is not on our side, since Iraq continues to develop WMD.

Moreover, if we continued to wait, at some point the world would decide that we were simply unable to retaliate. This revealed vulnerability would be our downfall, as every barbarian and bully would decide to take theirs while the getting was still good, before the other barbarians and bullies took it all.

I am confident that the U.S. government will act to prevent this scenario from occurring.