[Revolting cat!]

I dunno, but maybe, just maybe because he's not a Megalomaniac?!

[Pokey78]

Still have to get some troops into Turkey. It won't be much longer.

[Gun142]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/616045/posts?page=828#828

[LibKill]

I have no idea. And if I did I sure would not post it on a public forum.

Loose lips sink ships.

Flappin mouths kill Americans.

[InvisibleChurch]

he's waiting for the new moon so it will be safer for the troops

[Sen Jack S. Fogbound]

I believe he is waiting for the final words, if any, from the United Nations organization. If it is favorable, he will go ahead. If it is not favorable, he will go ahead anyway!

More power to him!

[patriciaruth]

We have to unload the troop ships near Turkey. Their parliament is going to vote tomorrow. If we get their 'go' then just placing the troops for the blitzkreig is all we need to do. If we don't get a 'go' from Turkey, then we have to go to plan B which means more likelihood of Iraq scorched earth tactic being successful and more American lives lost.

Bush is waiting for the last puzzle piece to fall into place for Plan A.

Blair got his okay vote from his parliament today, so he no longer needs the U.N. vote.

[twigandberry]

I think we were waiting on Blairs vote. Now that that's over we can move ahead.

[what's up]

Several factors. One is to let the left make complete fools of themselves first which they seem to be doing more and more of. Then after the war starts no one will pay attention to them when they squack.

The recent refusal of Iraq to destroy the missiles helps to garner world opinion also which the latest Blix moves have accomplished. We don't need world opinion, but it makes the task a lot easier.

War is inevitable...but the more Saddam and the left are seen to be complete wackos the better.

[In mourning for six years]

The President will begin this war when all the preparations are complete--not only in the Middle East, but more importantly, in THIS country. We have had, over the last few weeks, several reports of FBI and local authorities arresting or maintaining surveillance on various ME factions. I think that this administration will leave nothing to chance.

[Illbay]

Sheesh, ask a hard one.

They were waiting for TURKEY, so that the northern front could be open. Now they need to get the troops in place in Turkey. Then the balloon goes up, IMO.

[maestro]

WHAT EXACTLY IS BUSH WAITING FOR AND WHY HASN'T THIS WAR STARTED ALREADY?

If one told you,....they'd have to kill you!

Hush-hush

[Fred Mertz]

In case you haven't figured it out, there isn't going to be a war.

[patton]

WHAT EXACTLY IS BUSH WAITING FOR AND WHY HASN'T THIS WAR STARTED ALREADY?

It did. Not paying attention?

[RAY]

For appearance - "war is a last resort". Right now we are "negotiating from a position of strength" – gunship diplomacy. However, war will soon come – as there is no other way to remove "Sodamn ‘Insane".

[tpaine]

He's waiting for the smoking gun to be found so that wagging the dog cannot be charged.

Do NOT hold your breath.

[Russell Scott]

The war has already started if your paying attention. We have been bombing anything we consider a threat to our troops in the no-fly zone. I think the real fireworks will begin in the next couple of weeks.

[GovernmentShrinker]

Gotta finish training those Iraqi exiles who signed up for boot camp in Hungary. And other stuff like that that we laypeople can't know the details of. And gotta let all the goofballs who really truly want to be "human shields" get their goofy selves into position, so once the fireworks start we'll be rid of them for good.

[mikegi]

I thought the same thing before our attack on Afghanistan. It turned out that we were very busy in the background connecting up with the Northern Alliance and getting all the support structure in place (rescue forces, etc.).

As for Iraq, here's a couple of possibilities:

1) Rumsfeld vs. Franks. According to press reports, Rumsfeld wanted us to use a smaller, high mobility force to take over Iraq. Franks wanted a large, conventional force. Franks won. It's taking us a long time to get this large force in place.

2) Working on defections. I suspect we've been working on Iraqi military commanders in the field, trying to make arrangements for their rapid surrender when hostilities begin. More time gives us the ability to coax more arrangements.


My guess is that #1 is most likely. I was discussing the various Iraq invasion plans with my father the other day (he's a retired USAF MAC navigator). I preferred the Rumsfeld plan because our air power could crush any Iraqi military threat. He likes Frank's large force because we'll still do the air bombardment PLUS invade with a large army. His idea is that Iraqis may believe they could survive a bombardment and small army but when they see that the bombardment will be followed by a massive invasion, they'll surrender quicker.

My two cents.

[WFTR]

He's letting the other side (in all of its forms) stew on these same questions.

Texas Wasn't Kuwait
Bill