Well, it was Cheney who said they were operational and would, not might, get us.

The media you accuse of wanting to see GWB and the US fail simply allowed Cheney the opportunity to talk. If that be "leftist" in your eyes, so be it. However, seeing everything as a leftist plot is unbecoming, especially when they just allow Cheney to talk.

"Now, when someone pulls our chain, they are going to find a lot of heavy artillery facing them."

You read Ed's post. What happens when you train your artillery on an area, happen to hit someone whose family isn't "numb" to the idea of their children dying, and won't be bought off by some "goodys"?

You get a person looking for vengeance, and they decide to drop a mortar shell on Des Moines. Now, who are you going to train the artillery on? And on and on and on?

The US cannot kill everyone who doesn't like the US. If you believe we can, or that killing people will bring them around to liking us, don't read farther. No sense.

Now, I wasn't chiding anyone about not getting OBL, though the little monkey promised him to the American people. Or that they haven't found the anthrax mailer. I'm positive the government wants those people, bad! I was only trying to point out how difficult this all is.

By the way, as much as you'd seem to like to think it wasn't, it was the North Vietnamese who fought in Vietnam, not Russians or Chinese. The North Vietnamese used weapons and munitions from whoever would supply them. That was the Russians and Chinese, though they did use a lot of American weapons and muntions, too.

Had the Russians or Chinese tried to set up a puppet state in South Vietnam the North Vietnamese would have fought them, too. Forever, if that's what it took.

It was a war the Vietnamese fought for Vietnam. It was not a communist plot to take over the world. A war against imperialism.

I doubt we will be able to stop every isolated act of violence. We can't stop our own citizens from wasting people in factorys, or restaurants, or schools.

Can we react to every act against us as if it were a real Pearl Harbor? Can any politician not act that way? And, long-term what's the cost if we do? There just isn't always a target to waste. And the fate of the US would be in the hands of every nut with a mortar.

We're riding the tiger.

Arf