I would say the biggest argument gainst using WMD (nukes, bio, chem) is in looking at the map of Little Pashir where he's likely holed up.
Shall we let our lethal clouds drift into Pakistan, India, Tajikistan, Uzbekhistan, Russia or China? Which would say "Thass okay Uncle Sammie, we lost a few thousand folks and some crops, but goshdarnit, we got the dirty rat, didm't we?"
On another note, besides that intersection being a deterrent, it also grants him more avenues to escape through.
And is there the least irony in the idea that a Saudi guy we funded and armed sits in a base built by the Soviets that he played a major role in kicking out, that he declared war on us because we stationed troops in Saudi Arabia, which we placed there to fight Hussein, who invaded Kuwait possibly in part because our Ambassador Glaspie indicated we would not intervene, and who himself was armed by us to do battle with Iran, because Iran's ayatollahs were threatening our oil interests, but they came to power in a popular insurrection against the Shah, another guy who we armed, because we feared his predescessor might succumb to Soviet control, annnnnnd...... (deep breath)...... the foe we were against at the beginning and end of this ring-around-the-rosie (the Russkies) are now allied with us, as is OBL's native country, as is Pakistan, who helped create and maintain the Taliban, and the Taliban are Pushtuns, kin to Iranians, and we are tiptoeing through a path we hope yields a future alliance with Iran, annnnnnd......
...we have to claim, with a straight face, that Bin Ladin is the lunatic?
If this were "What's My Line", and they had to choose the real lunatic, I have a hunch either Bill Cullen or Kitty Carlisle would move to Tibet and practice Buddhism. |
