Speaking of certain predecesors, Bush the 1st also talked big and tough regarding terrorists. He did nothing. This is not the time to take shots at past inactions based on 20-20 hindsight. None of us knew that 911 was gonna happen. Plenty of time in the coming years to do a historical biopsy. Not now.

I support what appears to me to be the administration's careful, considered planing towards action on the terrorist front. What will cause me to lose faith is some future vague hand wave and rationalization that diplomatic interests inhibit us from taking out such and such of a facility. What appeared different were Bush 2nd 's remarks that this was a war against terrorism AND their enablers. I support coalition building but we need to be prepared to act should such coalitions fail to build.

What Bush needs to do now is enable technological progress that will free us of dependency on Middle East sourced fossil fuels. Specifically, we need to become totally independent of the Saudis and others. It's a matter of strategic national importance of the 1st order. It will take over a decade but we must start now. We have local sources of methane that are usable in a fuel cell based economy.

-philw