Scientists' deaths are under the microscope

I don't think nukes would add anything to the capability Saddam has already advertised in the letter to Daschle. Indeed, for his ends, the anthrax threat is far more effective -- we could always take out ICBMs on the ground, but we can never be sure that we have cleared his sleepers. OTOH, I think that there is a pretty good chance that a carefully-modulated campaign to wear Saddam down, accompanied by the carrot of a backdoor exit strategy arranged through (say) the Saudis, can be made to work, and I suspect this is the course the administration is pursuing.

I don't think the other "Axis of Evil" countries present an immediate threat to the United States. The current situation with Saddam -- where he has shown just how easy it is to kill Americans en masse using nothing more than box cutters, and to intimidate the US with relatively cheap biological WMD -- has fundamentally changed the nature of international relations, and we have no choice but to assume a zero-tolerance policy towards hostile third world countries from now on.

Nukes--as you yourself have pointed out--make American projection impossible. They immediately remove us from the M.E. They give Saddam de facto control over some 20-35% of the world's known oil reserves. They place the Arabs in the catbird seat between the US and our rising global rival, China. They seriously damage Russia's position in Central asia, and may even cut us off from the central asian bases we are developing to encircle China. They weaken India vis a vis Pakistan. They further separate us from our tenuous Continental allies in Europe.

This is to say nothing of the psychological damage his possession of nukes would do to the US. We would be a bit less--assertive, shall we say--if we knew that a sworn enemy had the "ultimate weapon." Financial markets would not take well to this, I assure you. Think "Dow 5000" or worse. Nasdaq would look like the Vancouver Stock Exchange...if we're lucky.

Do not misunderstand me: anthrax is very, very, very bad. I know that now (thanks to you). Nukes, however, would fundamentally and irrevocably alter the entire global balance of power.

I don't think the other "Axis of Evil" countries present an immediate threat to the United States."

Individually, you are right. But it is the pooling of resources that concerns me.

And North Korea worries me much more than Iran.

I pray you're right. I have no evidence one way or the other concerning his nuclear capabilities.

I do believe that N.K. is nuke-enabled, which leads me to believe that Saddam cannot be far behind.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.