No, we don't intend to make Iraq a 51st state. But we (at least people who were talking at Senate hearings on the war) are awfully sure that new Iraqi governement will be friendlier to our oil companies than to French or Russian ones. Why would that be?

As to world community, I do not particularly care what Quadaffi or Anand thinks about us. But I do care when 150,000 people show up in London to protest our behavior half a world away. This is a bad sign. We're only "leading" the world as long as the world percieves us as going in the right direction. Change that, and we'll have to pull rather than lead.

About Pakistan. How long do you think it will take for bin Laden people in Pakistani intellegence service to fade into sunset with an A-bomb on a truck? I do not think that Indian troops will be there in time. And in any case, talk about destabilization. If we provoke India-Pakistan war, the world will curse us for the rest of the century.

I am not quite sure why Hussein wants an A-bomb. I do not think he will dare to use it at all, not until he himself is on the deathbed. And by then he will be losing grip anyway. As long as he intends to live a few more years, he'll keep his weapons to himself. There will be no country left for him to govern if he uses any WMDs, and he knows it.