[Former Proud Canadian]

Well, you have touched on it. Each country is a different case. Iran has a very unpopular government and a (seemingly) pro-American populace. It seems like their nuclear facilities are about to be taken out by Israel soon which will complicate matters. However, the US should be conducting a large scale radio/TV propaganda campaign against the mullahs. Ditto Syria.

The Saudi regime seems very, very brittle. AQ seems to believe so. The US must be ready, in this case to secure the oil fields and facilities if things go badly for the regime. Maybe Jordan, Egypt and the Gulf states could contribute some police and garrison troops if and when the house of Saud collapses.

Pakistan is another case entirely. AQ leadership is enjoying its last redout in their "frontier" region. It has a huge population that cannot really be "controlled" by anyone. Certainly the US does not want to get involved in occupying Pakistan, but AQ must be dealt with and they are hiding in country. The answer here might be to back Musharak for a while, as long as he co-operates in apprehending AQ leaders and operatives. How much co-operation is forthcoming right now is open for debate.

[Cronos]

The answer here might be to back Musharak for a while, as long as he co-operates in apprehending AQ leaders and operatives. How much co-operation is forthcoming right now is open for debate.

I'm pretty convincend Mushie is playing us for suckers. We can't occupy a country of 140 million, but there is a neighbour who has a population of 1000 million who might be willing to do the occupation work for us if we knock out the Paki nukes and defenses.