> A nightmare for whom? Unlike the Russians, the US is not deploying our
own
> people there. Unlike the Russians, we don't care about avoiding chaos in
> Afghanistan, we just wanted to show to anyone in the world that any regime
> we didn't like could be taken out militarily.
And don't forget that we, unlike the Russians, are not facing a superpower-backed resistance with tens of millions pumped into it. That, I think, is the major difference here, at least when it comes to the fighting.
I'm sure that the people around Bush, especially Wolfowitz, are as you say, i.e. wanting to show power to those who get out of line. Standard US policy, and we'll see it on display soon in Iraq. But let's remember that there was a reason for the assault in Afghanistan, that al-Qaeda and the Taliban brought this on themselves and those who had nothing to do with the WTC terror. Frankly, as time goes on, and more I read about those fuckers, I'm glad they were taken out and disrupted, and I hope that the US armed forces whips the living hell out of them. This does not mean that I favor an invasion of Iraq, nor does it mean that I've forgotten about Sharon's criminality and our acquiesence in the face of that. Al-Qaeda is a unique, and very dangerous problem, one that the US helped to bring to life. And now, if nothing else, the US must terminate that life.
DP