There also appears to be a strong contingent in DC that wants to just get back to business as usual. they seem to think that we dropped some bombs so we should now just end it. Thus they float that tired old bogeyman some "Right Wing Nuts" are doing the Anthrax. The fact is that such an explanation does not even come close to passing the smell test. (puns intended)
We need to nuke somebody if one of the two above attacks occurs, and Bagdad's annhialation would serve as our last warning to the rest of Islam.
IMHO we are already at that time where we need to nuke someone becuase the bio-warfare threshold was crossed. Bagdad makes a whole lot of sense for this and it would serve well as a lesson to others. However, if we as a nation wait for a million, ten million or twenty million dead that option may well not be enough to save us.
As to China I am certain OBL has factored them and Russia into his plans. There is a whole lot of uncomfortable history there for him to deal with and they are geographically a whole lot closer than the USA. Short term I am certain he will not go out of his way to antagonize China. russia is having its problems with Chechneya which is directly tied to OBL.
As you say he is playing a game of chess.
Stay well - Stay safe - stay armed - Yorktown
I am certain it won't be written in Arabic, less certain it will not be written in chalk on a ruined wall.
Why in heaven's name is Powell talking of rebuilding Afghanistan ? Another attempt to mollify our coalition "friends" before even one objective of the "war on terrorism" has yet to be achieved ? Bush was not joking when he said this would be like no other war we've ever seen.