Bush must stand fast.

BFD.

what? i thought iran and syria were considered to be a part of the coalition against murderous (most of) islam?

Iran isn't an Arab nation.

the un *is* complicit with islamic murderers and should be shoved into the ocean. or, moved to the middle east/near east.

Bring it on!

The Arab coalition will contend that unless such action is under the auspices of the United Nations then it is illegitimate.

And they'll do....what?

Are these the mullahs speaking, or Khatami? Iran does a "good cop-bad cop" routine, all the time.

Don't forget that much of what is being said is for internal consumption to stave off terrorists within their own countries.

If we go to war with those countries, they'll fall apart, which is exactly what Usama wants.

Then we have two options: To put in a repressive military dictator (because the people don't WANT a Moderate Muslim friendly to the West, the only way we could install one is through repression), or to allow Usama's buddies to take over, which is exactly what Usama wants.

If we do put in the military dictator, we'll have to defend him for decades in the UN. If we don't, the states will become extremely poor, the terrorists will take over, and will take permanent control, which is exactly what Usama wants.

If, on the other hand, we don't go to war with these countries, they will continue to support terrorism.

Which is exactly what Usama wants.

What can we do? For starters, we can kill him. Then we can figure out where to go from there. This will not be easy.

Just heard this. Think maybe they are in this up to their ears? Thay want the UN involved so they can tie hands and make unpopular Viet Nam.

"You're either with us, or with the terrorists" quoted Dubya

Destoy Saddam's regime....

Then ensure that Iran is economically embargo'd via MILITARY enforcement.......

No attacks... just NOTHING in or out of their country, communications, water, food, oil,.......anything......

NeverGore

Target Tehran

Good move.

"Iran isn't an Arab nation."

Realy? Ya learn something new everyday. Could you explain further?

Kevin Tibble used the term "Arab Coalition", not me. He probably meant "radical islamic shia states", "radical islamic sunni states", essentially the entire mideast excepting that lone democratic state known as Israel, opposes US action. I wonder when we start some sort of offensive against bin laden and his network (which by definition encompasses the Taliban), what the reactions of these nations are going to be. Except perhaps for Jordan, there are no trustworthy Islamic states. None. If the US has to go it alone so be it. The only thing that matters is the survival of our nation.

The strategy is just to start. Divide and conquer. We'll start with Afgan and once some of our coalition does not like the results there, we will move on to Iraq. Ok to have them "with" us as long as possible. Won't end up that way.

Iranians are ethnically Persian. In fact, Iran's name was "Persia" for centuries. Persians do not consider themselves Arab, though it is admittedly hard to tell the difference.

Also, Iran is mostly Sh'ite Muslim (so is much of Syria and a good deal of Iraq), while other Muslims are mostly Sunni.