I have read the article and find it partly informative, partly speculative.
There's a lot more to all this than meets the eye--an incredible 3D
geopolitical chess game.  If it's largely a matter of controlling (much of)
the world's oil, as I think it is, then I think the administration's fear of
oil's falling under the control of Al Qaeda is the driving force for war.  I
believe that Bush & Co. do see very clearly the inevitable fall of all
those fat-assed Arab monarchies, maybe in the next decade or so,
as they cave in to the militant Islam in their midst--and that will mean,
of course, Al Qaeda's economic stranglehold over the U.S. and the
rest of the Western world.  Israel or no Israel, Al Qaeda's declared
purpose is the minimization of Western cultural influence, and there'd
be no better way than holding oil as economic trump card.  Gentlemen,
moral issues take a back seat here.  We are witnessing a life and death
struggle for the survival of the Western way of life against an absolutely
relentless militant Islam that is well-"oiled" with the economic means
to do us great damage.

I think that in 30 to 50 years, when all our vehicles run on hydrogen, we'll
have abandoned the Middle East, which will revert almost wholly to desert.
But  worry about the period of transition from now to 2030.

==Dan

At 10:03 PM 02/11/2003 -0600, you wrote:
>Daniel Pearlman wrote:
> >
> > In other words, a N. Korea or an Iraq wielding nukes is a defender of
> humanity?
> > Very interesting.  I enjoy your logic.
> > ==Dan
>
>North Korea is _not_ going to use those nukes (if it even has them)
>unless it is attacked. Don't you read: no nation but the u.s. (and
>perhaps Israel) _dare_ use nukes for offensive purposes.
>
>And Iraq of course has none. If it did, the U.S. wouldn't be going to
>war.
>
>Think a little about what using nuclear weapons would mean for a small
>nation.
>
>Carrol
>
>P.S. And do read the Counterpunch article Charles refers to.

=====================================================
Dan Pearlman's home page:
http://pages.zdnet.com/danpearl/danpearlman/

My new fiction collection, THE BEST-KNOWN MAN IN THE WORLD AND OTHER
MISFITS, may be ordered online at http://www.aardwolfpress.com/
"Perfectly-crafted gems": Jack Dann, Nebula & World Fantasy Award winner

Director, Council for the Literature of the Fantastic:
http://www.uri.edu/artsci/english/clf/

OFFICE:
Department of English
University of Rhode Island
Kingston, RI 02881
Tel.: 401 874-4659
Fax: (253) 681-8518
email: [log in to unmask]