Your questions are more linear than the fashion I normally pursue in seeking answers. But they are good questions that have given me pause for thought and I will try to think about them some...
What do the legendary "handfull of America's best" think about this new war? They are cynical at best...
The Colonel began his military career in the 1960's and fought for Mr Nixon in Cambodia during the early 1970's -- before becoming America's insurgent expert supreme. He is focused, and has been for many years, on destabilising Macedonia and liberating the Tetovo Republic.
During the Kosovo War he worked for MPRI in Sarajevo, planning the coming Macedonian campaign. He didn't give a damn about that war except as it related to liberating Kosovo to serve as the base for the fight two years later. As mentioned he stays focused...
He believes the US will be beaten -- unless the nuclear option is aggressively used and America is willing to sustain another thirty or forty thousand dead in the homeland.
The Congressman has long thought there would be a major war between the US and China. He favours the current approach because he realizes that by design or bad luck it offers the best chance to engage China and win -- before they draw even with US military power about 2015.
The Hawk has been in Albania lately laying logistical groundwork for US operators to go there and kill Islamic entente cell members. He is just trying to stay alive now.
The Correspondent's views are probably closest to mine. With the Tetovo Republic for all intents and puposes liberated he is concerned about Chechnya.
His views are that the Chechens wil eventually win because they will never quit and the Russians cannot kill them all. He feels it is imperative the victorious Chechens be aligned with the US and not the Islamic entente when the final battle is fought. He thinks the war could go either way...
I am not qualified to remark on which US President has hurt US-Arab relations the most but I doubt it was Bill Clinton. Although Iranians are not Arabs, I would remind readers that very early on the morning of October 19, 1987 (Stocks collapse), that Ronald Reagan bombed Iranian facilities in the gulf. This is seldom mentioned anymore...
I mention this because it is October again and the ordnance is flying.
Currently the US is pounding Afghanistan with an Elephant gun while being killed by the mosquito. This Anthrax assault is brilliant because it puts the US on the receiving end of a "Stretch and break" attack.
If Islamic entente forces can continue to increase Anthrax "incidents" (false or otherwise) at an exponential level they will collapse the ability of US law enforcement and emergency response units to maintain effective cohesion. This will be a huge victory for them.
Every office building that receives suspicious mail is now being evacuated. This puts tremendous strain on first responders and testing facilities -- while panicking workers and decreasing economic efficiency. This ball is rolling and picking up momentum...
A far cry from the first "isolated" case...
The Islamic entente has now made the US vulnerable to a weapon that consists of an envelope, First Class stamp, and some white powder. Can a cell put out twenty or thirty of these every day without drawing suspicion?
Sure they can. Can five cells put out a hundred every day...?
By targeting the media the Islamic entente gains maximum exposure, possibly picking up copy cat attacks along the way -- and continuing to increase pressure until the system fails.
Having the perimeter defence system fail is the initial goal of any preliminary attack -- whether it be versus Taliban air-defences or American law enforcement (Homeland Defence). Once the primary defence has been crushed, the main attack can come unhindered...
And make no mistake about it -- the main attack has yet to be launched. The Islamic entente cannot kill all Americans, but they can seek to collapse the US economy and financial infrastructure while America exhausts itself militarily in Afghanistan.
How many Muslim conspiracy theories are true? Like any such, more than you would think -- but the primary ones are without merit. Israel had nothing to do with the 911 atttacks, to think so is not to be realistic.
However it is an excellent device to fire up the people, just as the US does with their propaganda machine designed to keep American support strong at home. Keep in mind that Israel assassinates her enemies every week, yet the US media is very slow to descibe these acts as state sponsored murder. From this lack of balance comes the environment that such conspiracy theories can flourish.
However that is not the concern here. I know nothing of the Middle east...
The US has been a strong supporter of the Kosovo Liberation Army -- all Albanians hope the US wins this war. However I cannot get too excited about the US war versus the Taliban. The Taliban did not destroy the World Trade Center Towers...
And besides the US cannot win this war in the Afghanistan theatre, they can only lose it there...
The US will have to destroy Iraq to know victory. Unfortunately the political will does not exist in America to do this. The failures of Bush Sr and Secretary Powell to get the job done in 1991 must now be addressed. Alas it will be America and Britain going it alone this time and they do not have sufficient strength to launch another Desert Storm...
...Unless they are willing to lose ten thousand soldiers to do so and have their military power exhausted beyond what they will feel comfortable with in defending their homelands...
The American military has been lured (With Russian encouragement) into fighting a war in Afghanistan -- the most inhospitable and difficult terrain on earth. This is a collossal blunder unless, like the Germans at the Masurian Lakes, the Allies can wheel and destroy Iraq in a continuous and fluid campaign.
Perhaps this is the plan. Hopefully so, but no American general is a von Hindenburg. Hussein is not Samsonov.
The Islamic entente will seek to collapse the Pakistani government at the moment the American forces are most exposed. The shock of this coup will halt US offensive operations in Afghanistan -- extending operational plans into the winter phases -- and serve to rally pro bin Laden forces around the world. The Central Asian chain reaction should escalate through the region and spark a number of smaller brush fire skirmishes.
Meanwhile London and Washington will increasingly be isolated from what were the moderate elements in the Arab world. When "Allah's Suitcase" is opened it will be timed to bring down the West.
Meanwhile the Colonel, the Congressman, and the Correspondent continue to destroy Macedonia with the KLA/UCK cadres -- and prepare to topple the Greek government next year. When millions are killed in the Third World War, these guys won't get too excited -- that's the difference between an American operator and an Islamic entente martyr.
Alas, the old pros like the "handfull of America's best" are not running the show now in Washington. Too bad, because I would like America's chances a lot better with these guys involved. Instead the "experts" want to be touchy feely with Moscow and let Mr Putin keep taking a look under their skirts...
Mr Khrushchev said, " We will bury you..."
The forces of freedom on the move. Europe trembles.
By the way I hope the Albanians do bring down the Socialists in Athens.
The Greeks owe the Albanians a thank you for what they did to the psuedo-Macedonians. As for moves on Greece, yes they will force out the socialists in Greece and put back the nationalists that will again revive the Greek "Great Idea".
The Albanians are not the only expansionist power in the Balkans. Greece is the only nation that has gained territory since the end of WW2 (lastly at the expense of Italy). The invasion of Turkey failed due to the USSR's fear of an Anglo sponsored Greece in Asia Minor. Turkey is as she always a hollow power, reliant on the approval of greater powers. When the Russians hold the EU energy tap will the EU stand up for Turkey? We shall see.
As Turkey crumbles and its Kurdistan grows even more restless thanks be to attacks on Iraq, she will be too distracted to stop wealthy Greek Cyprus from enetring the EU, creating a virtual Athens-Nicosia enossis.
The Israeli-Turkish alliance will be an anchor around Turkey's neck as the EU distances itself from the actions of Israel.
It is a shame for the Albanians that NATO is both weaker and distracted now. There will be no power to restrain the Greeks from taking Northern Epirus as they make rump Skopje a virtual protectorate.
Turkey is hobbled, Bulgaria is clueless and Serbia is ascendant just as the EU starts to see Greece as a bulwark in its southern flank against the swelling turbaned masses.