I just found this thread and want to bump it back to the top as I find this series of posts amazingly interesting, especially now with the benefit of what, 8 months hindsight?
Yes, interesting to reflect back.
For my own contribution let me simply add this. First my qualifications so that you know where I am speaking from:
I have been to all these places, in various military/gov and private capacities. I had occasion to speak to many of the 'players' at one time or another in the past 30 years, and even had my hotel room at the King David blown up while I was out in the Negev.
I have been a participant in six "armed conflicts" as we so delicately describe them these days in one capacity or another, and I have personally taken many lives in the process, and would again.
Yet I am also the guy who will stop an entire lane of freeway traffic to jump out and try a save an errant squirrel from getting run over so don't jump to any 'blood and guts' conclusions.

I'm also waaaaaay over educated for any one's good- I think institutions of 'higher learning' have a tendency to drive common sense out the curriculum....

There's more, but that's enough for the present discussion.

It is my considered opinion that despite the treatises to the contrary, there are lots of people in this world whom for various reasons will kill you given the chance. Whether they want your money, your property, your wife, your daughter, or just dominion over what you do or say. I think it is unarguable that there are "BAD" people. Now, assuming that people of equal intelligence exist on both sides of the "good"/"bad" equation, it is most likely impossible to deal with the 'truly bad' without relying upon similar tactics. Sorry, but this seems to me incontestible. Someone shoots a gun at you, bow's and arrows in return, rocks/ stones, generally just don't get it. Whatever else can be said about Martin Luther King, Ghandi, Christ, all of those 'non combattant' types, well whatever else you can say about their non-violent approach, one indisputable fact remains- they were all murdered.

There's an old line which seems to me inescapbly true.
"Every country has an army, either theirs...or someone else's"....

For various reasons, the muslim world has always (with extremely rare exceptions) centered upon authoritarianism, either by small committee (no "King", Mullah, Sultan etc. ever truly rules alone) in the case of large countries or empires, or by chiefs of some sort or other in smaller tribal based communities. I believe that unless and until this changes in the muslim world, we will continue to march towards the armageddon which appears to lie before us as things now stand. It is impossible to negotiate with someone who believes in his heart that his version of "GOD" decrees that he should die for a religious cause. Much the same as trying to negotiate your life with a hungry lion tiger or bear, regardless of your 'feelings' towards them. (Of course I'm referring to our recently departed bear expert who offered up himself and unfortunately his girlfriend as the main course.)

The muslim people are manipulated, incredibly in this day and age. They do not hear what we in the west hear, they do not know 'news' as we know it, and they are ruled with an iron fist. It is the nature of the despots who sit atop the various societies to blame the west for all the ills that beset them, 24/7 in order to preserve their privileged positions. Saudi Arabia is one of the wealthiest countries in the world, one would think, right? WRONG. It is in fact, nearly bankrupt. Why? little thing called corruption, endemic to the muslim world. Sure it exists everywhere but the scope and breadth of the institutionalization of it is breath taking in the muslim world.

Imho the palestinian/israeli situation is perhaps the largest 'red herring' that human history has ever encountered. When you look to see what the 'bad' boys are up to..you do not look at the obvious...the palestinian/israeli circus for lack of a better word is the 'distraction' given the world to divert attention from the real, and extremely dangerous struggle now taking place. How many Saudi's are dying in Jerusalem? damned few. How many Indonesians? How many Malaysians? How many Turks? How many Persians? etc. etc. etc.? What's the economic power of Arafat? zilch, he can barely afford his mistresses...
so what the hell is really going on here?

What we are facing is the "war" that everyone seems to fear, but seem afraid to acknowledge is not in some distant avoidable future, but in fact has been raging since WWI. It is the war between cultures over the economics of this earth for the forseeable future. You do not ask the footsoldier to define the nature of the war, he is never told, poorly informed, and only given bland generalizations sufficient to motivate him into giving up his life or taking someone else's, for some not quite definable cause.
You have to go look at the great illusionists, who distract with one hand and act with the other. Who are they? well, at the risk of some oversimplification, they are the ones in every society who individually control the largest amounts of influence over economic activity. They never 'fight' themselves, they manuever armies much like chessplayers manuever kings/queens/knights/bishops and yes, our soldier 'pawns' around the board.

Right now we have several large groups of such players engaging in a tremendous struggle to expand and fortify, acquire and defend their economic and political 'turf' before technology catapults us into the next level of the 'game'. This will occur with the widespread utiliztion of hydrogen based fuels at which point oil and gas reserves will decrease markedly in importance and countries such as SArabia etc. will be left with little more than sand..and incredible debt. This isn't going to happen tomorrow, but it may happen in my lifetime and the powers that be are struggling for positions now.

The Europeans, well, you almost can't describe them that way at the moment, lets say France and Germany want a united expanded europe under their control. Isn't going to happen. The Russians are trying to relatively low profile while they completely reform their society, but they must advance quickly-thus the huge move to develop strong ties with the US. The Chinese play the game with a longer view than anyone, and see themselves as replacing the US at some point as THE international hyperpower, not only as to military/economic strength, but as to political influence as well. Observe their moves concerning the panama canal, the asian nations and vis-vis N. Korea and Australia. Never underestimate the Chinese.When an entire culture cares nothing for an individual human life, an amazing array of opportunities to be "bad" arises.

Of course there are many other 'players' at the moment, but these are the principals. Now toss in the muslim nations, or would be nations. The Arabs have dreamed for ages of a "United Arab Republic" incorporating most of the islamic countries in the mideast. The Arabs like the idea, many of the other islamic peoples do not, as they would have to surrender their own autonomy to achieve it. Therefore they back different 'factions' in the palestinian/israeli struggle who unfortunately, are merely the pawns in this larger game. How long would the various groups survive without the funds from these competing sponsoring nations?

What is going on in Iraq? The autocractic islamic regimes MUST NOT LET THE US SUCCEED!!! It is going to get worse, much worse. All the stops will be pulled out to prevent a democratic or at least representative iraqi nation from coming into being for it spells the end for all the others.

What we have is a war. Plain and simple, but the war is not Muslim vs. Christian or Jew as people would have you believe, it is a war between despots against representative government-between autocrats and would be democrats in the last major bastion of dictatorships around the world. It just happens that most of them are predominantly Muslim, it is NOT the fact that they are muslim. This is a fight between political systems, not religions. Religion is just employed by them as the means of motivating their pawns but this is not new. In fact its the oldest trick in the book.

It has been my experience that you can deal with any real man/ or woman of substance by treating him/her and his/hers with respect, disagreeing or not.

But you cannot negotiate with lions/tigers/bears/sharks/rabid dogs/or religious fanatics- whether sunni/shiite/baptist/catholic/jew/hindu/whatever.

That's why they are employed as the 'pawns' in the game. A thinking soldier is a dangerous soldier-not only to the "enemy" but even more so..to his manipulators.

In turning their attention to the 'real' conflict in the mideast, the people behind Bush are taking a gamble beyond measure. One that if it works will change the course of human history forever and at last resolve the 'mideast problem'. If they fail however, this world is going to become even more dangerous that it already is. It is a very brave and gutsy thing to try, and under the circumstances and given the limited time to solve this problem i.e. before "terrorists" are empowered with the ability to cause enormous loss of life and resources through the acquisition and deployment of not only the wmd's that everyone hollers about all the time, but through the sophisticated manipulations of the the electronic lines of communication and control-not simply the internet; it is I think, the correct course of conduct. It is better to fight the political war now, than the to be manufactured 'religious war' in the near future.

There is hope however for by and large this same group of people have already accomplished this. They and like minded peoples in other nations succeeded in bringing down a host of autocratic empires of tyranny in the last century alone, the last without even a direct military confrontation. Not only that, this same mindset centered group has managed so far to turn all of their former deadly enemies into for the most part, allies.

The task before the Bush "committee" and its friends and allies, is supremely difficult, but history has shown, not impossible. I myself am hopeful.

As for those who think that if the US and its allies were to simply withdraw from "the field", leaving the autocrats to have their way..and therefore 'bring the boys home regardless'....I have only this to say and the words are not mine.
I paraphrase (and roughly, for my latin is not what it used to be)the words of the Roman General Marius who having been selected as Tribune of the Empire and concluding his speech seeking to raise an army to defend the interests of Rome-finished his exhortation in this manner:

"If words could make cowards brave, I would say more, but to those strong men to whom I speak...I have said enough."

seer