<The one-man assassination route is out. Oh, there are dozens of mercenaries which would be willing to do it - and one of them would likely sooner or later succeed - but then every leader would be facing the same thing - assassins and snipers everywhere they turned.

Not a pretty picture.



I don't know. Kind of depends on your point of view. Might be the most entertainment we've had for decades. ;)

Some people--Rush Limbaugh is one--have theorized that all of this backing water on Iraq is a feint, designed to divert attention from some clever end run. I don't know about this myself. If so, it would have to involve that "big but not too big" operation you mention, small enough that the preparations would be undetectable. I personally don't see how this is possible. Even a "not too big" operation that could get the job done would probably be too big to hide.