[Cicero]

It's one of the big unanswered questions. Will Bush do the right thing with the Saudis when the time comes, or won't he? No one can be sure--and of course he'd be an idiot to tip his hand until he plays his cards.

From the time of his campaign I've given Bush the benefit of the doubt, always realizing that you never can be absolutely sure what any politician can do. I'm hopeful that Bush will do the right thing with the Saudis in due course.

If that's his plan, then it would be typical of his masterly political style to let himself be dragged into doing into what he wants to do by the media and the public. That's the way he plays the game.

[vpintheak]

Bush won't have enough time to do anything about it even if he were to try. I seriously doubt if he would anyway. There is too much history of of undercover ops and such to ever think we would actually do anything about it. I am not saying that Iraq was all about oil, that is one of the most idiotic slogans I ever heard. But if you investigate US history in that area of the world, you will see that oil is too important to try to overthrow the Saudi Government.

[an amused spectator]

If that's his plan, then it would be typical of his masterly political style to let himself be dragged into doing into what he wants to do by the media and the public. That's the way he plays the game.

In wargaming, if you can accomplish a move like withdrawing all your troops from a country like Saudi Arabia and positioning a couple of armored infantry divisions in a neighboring country like, say - Iraq, without your enemies really noticing, then you have the element of surprise. The anti-American left-wing media are cooperating beautifully by whining about a "quagmire".

I notice that the "quagmire" is drawing quite a few flies to the flypaper. ;-)