[Cicero]

They have beefed up the forces there, but I agree that it's probably just a stronger blocking force, to prevent Saddam from spreading the war into Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. If we attack Iraq, the signs are that we will do it the way we attacked the Taliban. Precision bombing, payoffs to Saddam supporters to betray him, use of the Kurds and possibly the Turks, efforts to stir up dissent and local revolts. In Afghanistan, the simple perception that the US was winning the war was enough to swing most of the locals over to the other side. I believe they will try to do the same thing in Iraq. It's one thing that the CIA is good at.

[Arthur Wildfire! March]

The domino effect. Now we have the Big Mo on our side. If Bush goes to war with the Bath party, then it is Taliban Times Two. Then the target rich environment. It works against them. Demoralising them is much easier than the Taliban. Their faith in their hardware, a security blanket easilly yanked away form them, compared with faith in the ability to hide in caves.