[copycat]

We spent almost a year with the Desert Shield buildup in preparation for Desert Storm. President Bush, Vice President Cheney, and Secretary Rumsfeld are good, but they are not good enough to keep a secret of a mobilization of the magnitude required to engage Iraq.

Looks like we could be entering the "military advisor" stage right now. You're right about deployment....it would be more than 1-2 mos off. I would guess they are making the early moves but hedging their bets.

The best time politically to attack Iraq (for the Bush adm) is just a month or two before the November elections.

[VMI70]

Bingeaux-As callous as it is (thank you, democRats and Rinos), the timing has to be just right. The house to house fighting and mop-up, hence the body bags, has to occur after the election.

[codebreaker]

I think this March/ April stuff is to get the Iraq Air Force down.

It will be November before we can clean up the mess of Saddams regieme.

[alethia]

I agree with you about the military advisor piece -- but how many troops do we have throughout the Balkans, etc., that we didn't have before Desert Storm? Would there be as massive a buildup -- or are troops being quietly re-deployed?

[aristeides]

The best time politically to attack Iraq (for the Bush adm) is just a month or two before the November elections.

Very risky, surely? Suppose there are reverses.