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We will go to some lengths to create the impression that it is Bush who is the "tough cop" here, even if the desired end result is gradually increased isolation of Iraq, on a timescale commensurate with our capability to build up our civil defnses against the threat he presents.

Thanks for taking the time to respond. So if I understand your theories correctly, we will eventually isolate Iraq when our civil defenses are ramped up. Exactly what form of isolation do you think Saddam will accept ? The loss of Northen Iraq to the Kurds and Turkey ? The loss of Southern Iraq to the Shiites ? Is that the carrots we are offerring Saddam to eliminate the Anthrax threat ? If our long term goal is to eliminate Saddam once our civil defenses are ramped up, (which by all external indications seems to be whats actually occurring), why would Saddam not see this coming and say, screw it. If you are going to take me out, I let loose my anthrax. This end game requires a very very delicate balancing act. I dont think Bush et. al. should assume Saddam is as pliable as the progressive Democrats with their inferiority complexes. If Saddam has the anthrax, he wont be mired within the confines of inferiority. And since he is diabolical, we can never trust his word that the anthrax threat has been eliminated. IMHO, Baghdad should have been nuked in 1991.

What we have here is a hostage situation. A career criminal has pulled off his piece-de-resistance -- 9-11 -- and he's taken a bunch of hostages in an attempt to get away with it. The hostages are you, me, everybody. Now the cops (Bush and our allies) have to try and resolve the crisis with the minimum loss of life. This analogy -- or rather, this reconceptualization of the situation -- underlines the importance of the good-cop-bad-cop gambit. The hostage-taker has to be left with something to play for. That's where the "good cops" come in. For as long as possible, Saddam has to be convinced that he has a shot of getting off scott-free. His old "friends" -- Russia and France -- come in handy here. Towards the end, he's going to give up on getting off scott-free. He's still going have to be left with something to play for, even if it's only Baghdad. This can be arranged.