...is that Iraq is being set up as the next target should another terrorist attack be done on the US. Kind of a tit-for-tat strategy. The first attack cost the fundamentalists their stronghold in Afghanistan. Another attack will cost them Iraq.

In the meantime, it appears to me that the US is just engaging in brinksmanship. If the US weren't pressing the issue, the EU would have lifted sanctions long ago and gone about business as usual. As it stands, the EU has to tow the line of continued isolation, in hopes of staving off the overthrow of the Baath party.

I could be wrong and a U.S. invasion could be imminent. Or the reality of the threat to brinksmanship could be taken to a point of no return. But the current environment seems to foster a position where the U.S. is ready, willing and able to carry out an attack, but does not actually carry it out until some event triggers the response. Of course, the trick to brinksmanship is to not show your true hand, lest you be forced to play it one way or the other.