I've been thinking to myself: What would be my military response if I were president? I'll say up front that I don't have a glimmer of a clue. No doubt several people out there are thinking: "Kill bin Ladin!" Certainly trying to kill bin Ladin and his henchmen approaches the right answer. However there is this tiny little problem that bin Ladin isn't stupid. The media has been going on about how bin Ladin is in Afganistan. Bin Ladin has been planning this thing for one or two years. He would be a blithering idiot to still be in Afganistan. The Taliban are obviously sympathetic towards him and/or have been paid off (bin Ladin has hundreds of millions of dollars). Leaving Afganistan would not be difficult. If I was to guess, I would say bin Ladin is either in the Sudan, Libya or Iraq. Also I would guess that his terrorist network is well organized in cells and distributed through out the Middle East, Asia and western Europe. I would be amazed if his terrorist network could be knocked out by napalming a few training camps. People keep saying we need to declare war. I'm all for it if it can result in destroying the enemy. However there is again this little problem: Who are we going to declare war against? The American people are going to demand that Bush do something and Bush will certainly do "something". If I was to guess, I'd say that he'll approach this thing cynically by making life difficult for the Taliban (they're bastards anyway) and maybe bomb a few Iraqi command bunkers (keeps Saddam distracted). The news media will love it but I doubt this will seriously impact bin Ladin. Beyond engaging in media stunts, I can't imagine what else Bush can do.

Gary