[marron]

I would not want to be in the shoes of any "ally" who let us go to war without them.

After the fighting is over, if we have done it without the Turks, then we owe them nothing. Restraining the formation of a Kurdish homeland wasn't going to be easy anyway. If the Turks do not support us, we have no reason to try and restrain it at all.

Jordan is the historical Palestinian homeland. The king sits on a potential powderkeg, as he and his non-Jordanian family rule a people that is not his. In the aftermath of the war there would be no reason not to push for democracy in Palestine, which is to say, Jordan. Democracy means the end of Jordan's foreign royals.

The Saudis have done more than any other regime to create the situation we face, being as they are the original sponsors of Al Qaeda, and have yet to completely disavow them. We are giving them one chance to get on the right side of things. We gave the Taliban a similar chance, out of respect for our previous relations. They failed to take advantage of their one chance, and we were forced to squash them like a bug.

The Saudis have just been given their one chance. They must not blow it, unless they are prepared to spend the remainder of their days in Ibiza. They will not long remain in Riyadh if we are forced to take Baghdad without their help.

We are capable of doing what we have to do from our bases in the Gulf, and Kuwait, if need be. Our friends must understand that we are not kidding, and one-way friendships are out of fashion.

[arthurus]

We are capable of doing what we have to do from our bases in the Gulf, and Kuwait, if need be

I really think that W does not need any permissions to use whatever land area he needs to use or fly anywhere.

[Kryptonite]

Well, the Turks will say that they did support us, by letting 20,000 or so troops stage there. Sure, it falls short of the 80,000 we had in mind, but we won't be able to say that they did nothing for us.

[ApesForEvolution]

You're right. Jordan has just offered itself up as the new "Palestinian State" and the Saudis won't get the 'Pakistani Plea Agreement' without getting clearly on board. Wow, this is going to be extremely...interesting to say the least?