Tom, get this through your thick head here. Saddam's regime was secular and at great odds with the Islamic mindset of the entire region. Military might or not, his invasion of those countries and taking over Mecca would put him smack into the target of Islamic fundamentalist rage. He might have initial success militarily but he'd be putting himself into a firestorm he couldn't control. Look at your history books Tom. Modern imperialistic societies have all begun to crumble from within when they begin marches outside their borders.

You just have no clue at all about the human mind and using societal emotion to your tactical advantage. Of course Saddam had his eyes on Saudi Arabia and that's the beauty of it all. The Saudi's have this tremendous influence over the whole of the Mideast oil situation and would not have sat still and waited to have their power taken away from them. They didn't have to do any of the dirty work when the US willingly stepped in. Without us, that dirty work may very well have forced them to go begging on their knees to Israel for protection. Who else in the area had the ability to lay waste to Saddam's military might? If Israel was smart about things, they'd rescue the Arab world from Saddam and become more acceptible in the eyes of the Islamics.

And Tom, next time you ask a question in one of your threads and you only want answers that you agree with, you may want to include that in the question. Right now the mindset seems to be - Tom asks a question. Someone answers in a thoughtful or brainstorming manner. Tom attacks them and their intelligence.

Seems the next logical step is - Ignore Tom from the outset.