[PornoDoggy]

I don't care much for your comparison of Reagan's "Evil Empire" to the Axis of Evil. First of all, while I don't dispute that Reagan's administration contributed to the demise of the Soviet Union, I think he gets a lot of credit for that in the same way that Clinton got credit for the economy - right place, right time.

Iraqis are rejoicing over the demise of Saddam - but in mosques around the world the calls for jihad are increasing. Mubarak told his military recently that our actions will likely create 100 bin Ladens - and he may very well be right. Every action creates a reaction - and it will take a while to see what all the reactions to our course of action turn out to be.

At the risk of committing the currenly politically incorrect act of "questioning the ability of the [so-called] Iraqi people" to govern themselves, recent experiences by artifical nations freed from oppressive regimes seems to suggest a long and difficult path ahead. I know that the people of the former Yugoslavia celebrated their freedom from an oppressive regime too - but horrible, unspeakable things came later.

Am I prediciting that future for Iraq? No, not at all; but you've got to be naive or selling something to deny that it's a very real possibility. I'm glad Saddam is gone; but now the hard work begins, and it won't be accomplished by flying in a bunch of ex-pats who haven't lived there since before Reagan single-handedly brought down the Soviet Union by spending them into oblivion.

China values most favored nation status. But if Mubarak is right, and our actions hasten the spread of radical Islam, then China will be affected both internally and on its borders. And if there are plans to confront Iran or Syria - or both - then China will probably not be the only nation to begin to view us with even more distrust than they already do. Making a move that would bring us closer to their borders could just be the push they need to make them think they are forced to confront us. An awful lot of people an awful lot smarter than me have been wrong about China before.

I'm not going to deny that my idea is flawed. I have to agree with Colin that "There's no obvious move here." ALL the methods of dealing with the situation are flawed.

But nuclear war has to be the last option. War in Korea would almost have to be nuclear, and it would cause the deaths of hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of civilians - not collateral damage to enemy civilians, but those of our ally.

And I think even the (former?) Iraqi Information Minister would have difficulty putting a positive spin on that one.