To: The Wizard
Assuming he chooses not to strike first, you can bet Saddam will do whatever he can to retaliate once our attack starts.
We know he has biological and chemical weapons, but we do not know how well he has been able to pre-position them. Prudence dictates that we be ready for something very bad.
Time is not on our side. Numerous press reports say Saddam may have Nukes by Christmas.
Will we wait if it looks like Saddam is about to get Nukes (assuming he does not have them already..)? Hmmm...
Does that mean we must attack before Christmas? Hmmm...
The rainy season starts in Iraq in mid-November. Clouds would interfere with our optically guided precision bombs, and make satellite observation harder. We will not throw away these advantages, so we will not start the attack during the rainy season.
Does that mean we will attack before the rainy season starts in mid-November? Hmmm...
How long before the rainy season starts would we need to start in order to take care of business before it clouds over? Hmmm...
We do not know what retaliation to expect, but would not want the bad guys to have any chance of knocking out our top elected leadership.
Congress adjourns Friday, October 4th, and goes home to campaign. Hmmm...
Our people are at home, not work, on weekends. This means an attack on our civilian population with WMD is likely to be much less devastating on a weekend.
Given the possibility of retaliation with WMD, would we prefer to launch an attack on a weekend? Hmmm...
Our initial strike will on a night with no moon. This makes our planes very hard to spot with optically guided anti-aircraft weapons.
Monday, October 6th, is the new moon. It will be a very small moon on the weekend of October 4th and 5th, however.
The Israeli government is now telling its various ministries to be ready for war by October 1st. (The previous timetable said November 1st.) Israel is really kicking booty in an all-out effort to root out all known terrorist leaders. Arafat is completely neutered. :)
We are pushing for a U.N. Security Council vote on the U.S./British resolution by the end of next week (i.e., by Friday, October 4.).
Congress will have voted on the war resolution by the time Congress leaves on October 4th. President Bush and the American people will have won the vote.
All this makes it seem like President Bush is in a hurry. Does that mean he's in a really BIG hurry? Hmmm...
President Bush has said there will be no "October Surprise". After all this build-up, would an attack on the night of Saturday, October 5th, be a "surprise"? Hmmm...
Offsetting all of this, Saddam might be able to hit us very hard with bio-weapons already. For instance, worst case scenarios estimate we could lose up to 4 million Americans in an anthrax attack against the New York subway system alone.
Are we ready? Would it be even worse to wait? Hmmm...
We are a divided nation, faced with an evil enemy bent on our extirmination. The stakes are incredibly high.
None of know what is coming, or the best course of action now. I pray for wisdom, courage and guidance for President Bush, and that He will grant His divine mercy on America.
To: EternalHope
Monday, October 6th, is the new moon. Minor correction: Oct. 6, the date of the new moon, is a Sunday.
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