" - - and the various anthrax, dirty-bomb, and suicide-attack scares, Americans are finally seeing militant Islam not merely as a different religion, or even as a radical Jim-Jones-like cult, but as a threat to our very existence."

I haven't seen where the anthrax has been attributed to Islam, I haven't heard of any dirty-bombs in the US and I haven't heard of any suicide attacks. People can be afraid of anything. You can't stop that, I can't stop that.

A couple of thoughts. Curious to know how these things threaten "our very existence". My imagination tells me they would have to invade, take over our civil and police processes, and gradually eliminate us. Sort of like what's happening to some other people we talk about.

Second, the nations of which we speak as having WMD apparently could have alread anthraxed us, could have dirty bombed us, could have suicide attacked us and haven't. Why not?

Third, what are we doing which isn't ensuring these things will happen? How much can we bluster and threaten Iraq, for instance, before Saddam preemptively attacks?

After all, if it's "fair" for GWB to say he is going to attack Iraq because Iraq might attack the US, isn't it "fair" for Iraq to attack the US? Same principle? Do you behave that way if you are the US and you want to avoid an attack, or if you want to ensure an attack?

Puzzling.